BV  4241  .S6  1915 

Scares,  Theodore  Gerald,  b 

1869. 
University  of  Chicago 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO  SERMONS 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO  PRESS 
CHICAGO,  ILLINOIS 


THE  CAMBRIDGE  UNIVERSITY  PRESS 

LONDON  AND  EDINBURGH 

THE  MARUZEN-KABUSHIKI-KAISHA 

TOKYO,  OSAKA,  KIOTO 

KARL  W.  HIERSEMANN 

LEIPZIG 

THE  BAKER  &  TAYLOR  COMPANY 

NEW  YORK 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO 
SERMONS 

BY 

MEMBERS  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 
FACULTIES 


EDITED  BY 


Theodore  Gerald  Soares 

The  Department  of  Practical  Theology 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO  PRESS 
CHICAGO,  ILLINOIS 


Copyright  1915  By 
The  University  of  Chicago 


All  Rights  Reserved 


Published  April  191 5 


Composed  and  Printed  By 

The  University  of  Chicago  Press 

Chicago,  Illinois,  U.S.A. 


TO 

The  Alumni  of  the  University  of  Chicago 

throughout  the  world,  who  are  preaching  the  gospel  and  bring- 
ing forth  out  of  that  treasure  things  new  and  old 


PREFACE 

We  are  getting  beyond  the  point  where  we  are 
concerned  to  harmonize  rehgion  with  science.  The 
only  harmony  that  is  necessary  is  that  rehgious 
men  shall  be  utterly  scientific  in  their  thinking  and 
that  scientific  men  shall  be  vitally  religious  in  their 
faith.  Confusion  arises,  on  the  one  side,  when 
rehgious  experience  is  made  the  credential  for 
opinions  which  ought  to  be  scientifically  founded, 
and,  on  the  other  side,  when  the  limits  of  scientific 
knowledge  are  set  as  the  Hmits  of  the  venture  of 
faith. 

Of  course  faith  and  science  apprehend  reaHty 
in  different  ways.  Faith  is  practical,  expectant, 
idealistic,  daring  to  go  beyond  knowledge  in  its 
eager  search  for  spiritual  values.  Science  is 
analytic,  investigative,  critical,  passionately  seek- 
ing truth,  but  ever  demanding  its  credentials. 
There  is  no  necessary  opposition  here. 

The  classroom  and  the  pulpit  are  places  of 
different  emphasis.  The  mood  of  faith  belongs  in 
the  theological  classroom,  and  must  indeed  irra- 
diate all  thinking  upon  religious  truth;  but  the 
classroom  is  fundamentally  a  place  for  thought. 
And  the  scientific  spirit  ought  to  possess  the  preacher, 
for  no  depth  of  religious  conviction  may  excuse 
loose  thinking;  yet  the  pulpit  is  especially  the  place 
for  the  expression  of  experience. 


viii  Preface 

The  theological  professor  may  therefore  well 
be  a  preacher.  He  rejoices  in  the  religious  freedom 
of  the  pulpit  which  permits  him  to  speak  messages 
complementary  to  those  expressed  in  his  scientific 
lectures  and  treatises.  This  book  is  a  collection  of 
such  messages  by  professors  in  the  divinity  and 
allied  departments  of  the  University  of  Chicago. 
The  sermons  were  not  made  for  a  book,  but  are 
those  which  have  been  preached  in  the  course  of 
occasional  pulpit  ministry  to  the  churches.  The 
title  of  the  book  is  suggested  by  the  fact  that 
many  of  these  sermons  have  been  preached  at  the 
regular  Sunday  morning  religious  service  of  the 
University. 

It  need  scarcely  be  said  that  each  sermon  rep- 
resents the  individual  faith  and  opinion  of  the  par- 
ticular writer,  for  which  no  one  but  himself  is 
responsible.  It  has  been  the  most  fundamental 
principle  in  this  collaboration  that  each  man  should 
be  perfectly  free  to  utter  his  own  message.  No  one 
will  therefore  attempt  to  find  here  a  system  of 
theology  or  a  body  of  doctrine  which  represents  the 
University.  A  university  holds  no  corporate  views 
which  authorized  representatives  may  declare,  but 
stimulates  every  scholar  to  seek  the  truth  and  to 
speak  it  forth  with  humility  and  personal  conviction. 

If  faith  dominates  the  utterance  of  the  pulpit, 
still  more  is  it  fundamental  in  communion  with  God. 
The  brief  prayer  appended  to  each  of  these  sermons 
is  the  endeavor  of  the  preacher  to  express  in  the 


Preface  ix 

language  of  devotion  the  religious  feeling  of  his 
message. 

As  a  further  indication  of  that  essentially  reU- 
gious  quahty  of  the  sermon  which  constitutes  its 
abiding  place  among  the  institutions  of  religion, 
the  editor  has  ventured  to  offer  an  introductory 
essay  on  "The  Need  of  Power  in  American 
Preaching." 

The  Editor 

January,  1915 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Introductory  Essay:    The  Need  of  Power  in 
American  Preaching 3 

By  The  Editor 

I.  The  Everlasting  Kingdom  of  Righteousness    .      21 

By  Charles  Richmond  Henderson 
The  Department  of  Practical  Sociology 

II.  The  Salt  of  the  Earth 37 

By  Ernest  DeWitt  Burton 
The  Department  of  New  Testament  Literature 

III.  Manufactured  Gods 55 

By  Shailer  Mathews 
The  Department  of  Systematic  Theology 

IV.  The  Prophetic  At'^itude  in  Religion       ...      71 

By  J.  M.  Powis  Smith 
The  Department  of  Old  Testament  Literature 

V.  The  Test  of  Religion 89 

By  James  Hayden  Tufts 
The  Department  of  Philosophy 

VI.  The  Revival  of  Idealism 107 

By  Allan  Hoben 
The  Department  of  Practical  Theology 

VII.  What  Jesus  Thought  of  His  Own  Death      .     .     125 
By  Errett  Gates 
The  Department  of  Church  History 

VIII.  The  Authority  of  the  Spirit  in  the  Religion  of 

Paul 145 

By  Shirley  Jackson  Case 
The  Department  of  New  Testament  Literature 


xii  Contents 

PAGE 

IX.  Prayer    ....  165 

By  Edward  Scribner  Ames 
The  Department  of  Philosophy 

X.  The  Life      ...  181 

By  Albion  Woodbury  Small 
The  Department  of  Sociology 

XL  The  Voice  of  God 203 

By  Benjamin  Allen  Greene 
The  Department  of  Practical  Theology 

XII.  Riches  and  Life 219 

By  Edgar  Johnson  Goodspeed 
The  Department  of  New  Testament  Literature 

XIII.  The  Significance  of  Jesus 233 

By  Herbert  Lockwood  Willett 
The  Department  of  Old  Testament  Literature 

XIV.  Has  the  Church  a  Message  for  the  Modern 

World  ? 255 

By  Nathaniel  Butler 
The  Department  of  Education 

XV.  The  New  Heaven  ;vvd  the  New  Earth    .     .     .     271 
By  Gerald  Birney  Smith 
The  Department  of  Systematic  Theology 

XVI.  The  Dignity  of  the  Christian  Message  ...     295 
By  Fred  Merrifield 
The  Department  of  New  Testament  Literature 

XVII.  The  Way  TO  THE  Unseen 315 

By  Theodore  Gerald  Scares 
The  Department  of  Practical  Theology 

XVIII.  The  Function  of  Death  in  Human  Experience    2)2>2> 
By  George  Burman  Foster 
The  Department  of  Comparative  Religion 


INTRODUCTORY    ESSAY 

BY 

THE  EDITOR 


INTRODUCTORY    ESSAY:     THE    NEED    OF 
POWER  IN  AMERICAN  PREACHING 

In  the  face  of  a  great  deal  of  cynicism  about  the 
pulpit,  it  was  refreshing  to  hear  a  noted  judge  say 
recently,  '^I  need  the  sermon/'  He  meant  of  course 
that  in  contrast  with  the  sordidness  of  everyday 
life  he  needed  the  ideality  of  religion.  He  was  a 
man  of  many  burdens  who  needed  inner  courage 
and  comfort;  he  was  seeking  to  do  his  duty,  and 
needed  vision  to  see  it  and  strength  to  perform  it. 
He  thought  that  he  might  expect  from  the  Chris- 
tian minister  some  stimulus  and  help.  He  would 
not  probably  have  cared  so  to  express  it,  but  he 
wanted  preaching  with  power.  Intelligence,  lucid- 
ity, forcefulness  would  be  assumed,  but  beyond 
aU  these — ^power. 

Power  does  not  belong  to  any  school  of  thinking 
or  method  of  preaching,  as  such,  neither  to  ortho- 
doxy nor  to  liberalism,  neither  to  evangelistic 
preaching  nor  to  educational  preaching,  neither  to 
the  individualistic  message  nor  to  the  social  message. 
It  may  be  present  in  any  of  these  and  it  may  be 
absent  from  any  of  them.  Power  does  not  have 
to  do  with  the  content  of  the  message,  but  with  its 
quahty.  I  do  not  mean,  of  course,  its  delivery,  but 
its  essential  religiousness. 

Power  is  absent  from  a  large  part  of  American 
preaching  because  that  preaching  is  not  religious. 

2i 


4  University  oj  Chicago  Sermons 

It  is  not  essentially  and  vitally  and  experientially 
religious.  While  we  recognize  much  strong,  noble 
preaching,  for  which  we  thank  God  and  take  cour- 
age, is  there  not  also  a  large  amount  of  preaching 
that  could  be  put  into  the  following  categories, 
which  are  not  mutually  exclusive:  (i)  an  uncon- 
vincing evangelicalism — mere  platitudes  about 
redemptive  doctrines  without  clear  relation  to 
human  hfe;  (2)  a  solemn  pietism — conventional 
appeals  for  consecration  and  separation  from  the 
world;  (3)  a  weak  sentimentalism — apathetic  stories, 
far-fetched  religious  experiences,  general  unreaUty 
to  the  healthy-minded;  (4)  a  dry  intellectuahsm — 
mere  discussion  of  subjects,  the  sort  of  thing  that 
can  be  done  better  in  a  magazine;  (5)  a  belated 
controversialism — fighting  over  old  battles,  tilt- 
ing at  windmills;  (6)  a  shallow  sensationahsm — 
catching  the  crowd  by  the  methods  of  the  vaudeville 
and  the  yellow  press,  anything  for  notoriety;  (7)  a 
bumptious  egotism — the  minister  carried  away  by 
the  self-importance  of  his  leadership,  thrusting  his 
views,  his  hobbies,  his  methods,  himself,  and  even 
his  family,  upon  pubUc  attention;  (8)  a  shallow 
sociaHsm — the  use  of  the  pulpit  for  the  presentation 
of  particular  economic  theories  and  partisan  views 
with  no  great  human  appeal?  Some  of  these 
preachings  gain  large  audiences,  even  fill  up  the 
membership  of  churches,  even  secure  conversions 
and  reformations  of  life,  but  their  influence  taken 
as  a  whole  is  petty,  cheapening  to  religion,  and  is 


The  Need  of  Power  in  American  Preaching     5 

not  bringing  God  to  men  and  lifting  men  to  God. 
If  all  preaching  were  of  such  character  the  days  of 
the  pulpit  would  be  numbered. 

What  is  it  in  the  preacher  that  makes  the  people 
feel  that  the  sermon  is  different  from  all  other 
speech,  and  that  the  church  is  the  house  of  God,  the 
very  gate  of  heaven  ?  We  read  the  sermons  of  the 
Hebrew  prophets,  and  they  stir  us  today  as  if  they 
spoke  to  our  own  needs,  while  we  feel  that  such  men 
had  the  right  to  say,  "Thus  saith  the  Lord."  They 
had  a  divine  message,  though  it  might  relate  to  sell- 
ing goods  and  hearing  lawsuits.  Who  can  miss  the 
power  of  Amos,  Hosea,  Micah,  Isaiah,  Jeremiah? 
We  listen  to  Jesus  and,  with  the  multitudes,  wonder 
at  the  gracious  words  that  proceeded  out  of  his 
mouth.  We  feel  the  correspondence  between  inner 
Ufe  and  outward  speech  that  enabled  him  to  speak 
as  one  having  authority.  Luther,  the  man  of 
prayer,  tells  his  disciples,  ''When  you  are  about  to 
preach,  speak  with  God."  Baxter  preaches  "as 
a  dying  man  to  dying  men."  Andrew  Fuller  feels 
that  "the  pulpit  is  an  awful  place;  we  preach  for 
eternity."  Jonathan  Edwards,  whom  our  genera- 
tion utterly  misunderstands,  judging  him  from 
a  single  sermon,  had  those  requirements  of  a  great 
preacher  which  Phillips  Brooks  gave  of  Henry  Ward 
Beecher,  and  which  belonged  to  all  of  these  men, 
"the  love  of  truth  and  the  love  of  souls."  Chal- 
mers preached  "with  blood  earnestness."  When 
Maclaren  opened  to  men  the  word  they  felt  that 


6  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

he  had  been  with  God.  And  Spurgeon  said,  ^*It  is 
a  bath  in  the  waters  of  Paradise  to  preach  with  the 
Holy  Ghost." 

I  have  heard  my  father  describe  a  meeting  held 
in  London  at  midday,  when  the  men  of  affairs 
crowded  to  hear  Spurgeon  speak  on  prayer.  He 
would  resolve  their  doubts  and  help  them  to  believe. 
But  he  said,  "What  shall  I  tell  you  about  prayer? 
Shall  I  explain  how  cool  water  slakes  the  thirst, 
how  food  strengthens  the  hungry,  how  fire  warms 
the  chilled?  Taste  and  see  that  the  Lord  is 
good.  Pray  and  find  God."  And  they  went  away 
feehng  that  the  preacher  knew  the  meaning  of 
prayer. 

Recently,  in  a  Simday  school,  the  president  of  a 
Kentucky  mountain  college  told  the  story  of  the 
attempt  of  the  Christian  school  to  teach  the  moun- 
tain boys  that  the  heroism  of  Jesus  is  greater  than 
that  of  revenge.  He  explained  that  at  the  present 
time  there  are  two  lads,  scions  of  an  old  feud,  who 
are  sitting  side  by  side  in  the  schoolroom.  He 
spoke  with  the  exquisite  simplicity  and  utter  gen- 
uineness that  we  associate  with  Lincoln.  One  of  his 
young  hearers,  not  much  given  to  express  himself, 
volunteered  the  remark  to  his  teacher,  "It  does 
make  a  difference  when  you  hear  a  man  who  really 
believes  what  he  says."  Do  we  mean  it  or  are  we 
preaching  ? — that  is  what  the  heart  of  man  is  hungry 
to  know.  God  forgive  us  that  such  an  antithesis 
has  ever  been  conceivable! 


The  Need  of  Power  in  American  Preaching     7 

Power  is  not  a  superficial  matter.  It  is  not 
saintly  appearance  or  low  mellow  voice,  nor  is  it  any 
style  of  speech.  It  is  what  our  fathers  called 
unction,  but  that  is  certainly  not  unctuousness. 
And  it  cannot  be  worked  up.  Spurgeon  said  that 
some  people  confound  inspiration  with  perspiration. 
It  is  not  the  manner  of  the  man,  it  is  his  spirit. 
We  have  felt  it  in  Arthur  T.  Pierson  with  his  slight, 
almost  ascetic  appearance,  and  on  the  same  plat- 
form in  the  big,  manly  A.  J.  Gordon,  in  the  robust, 
square-built  Spurgeon,  and  in  the  tall,  red- 
haired  Drummond  (yes,  even  dressed  in  big  checked 
trousers),  in  the  chaste  eloquence  of  George  Adam 
Smith  and  in  the  restrained  passion  of  R.  J.  Camp- 
bell, in  the  strident  tones  of  Moody  and  in  the 
exquisite  modulation  of  Gypsy  Smith.  And  it  is 
not  a  matter  of  numbers.  We  have  found  it  in  the 
speakers  at  the  great  conventions,  and  we  have 
missed  it  there.  We  have  found  it  in  the  little 
gatherings,  and  we  have  also  missed  it  there.  It  is 
in  Martineau  the  Unitarian,  as  he  preaches  to  fifty 
people,  and  it  is  absent  sometimes  from  the  evangel- 
ist, as  he  speaks  to  thousands.  It  belongs  to  those 
preachers  who  having  a  great  message  worthy  to 
move  the  souls  of  men  are  themselves  so  moved  that 
they  forget  themselves  in  the  message  and  cry  from 
their  hearts,  Non  nobiSj  Domine,  non  nobiSj  sed 
nomini  tuo  da  gloriam. 

Power  in  preaching  is  founded  in  the  preacher's 
oneness    with   the   religious   needs   of   his   people. 


8  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

There  is  no  power  when  he  preaches  over  their 
heads.  When  the  parishioner  of  an  academic 
young  preacher  said  that  he  did  not  understand 
his  sermons,  but  he  Hked  to  hear  him  "get  them  off," 
he  was  testifying  to  coruscation,  not  power.  The 
people  make  the  sermon  with  the  preacher.  There 
is  a  common  rehgious  need  which  he  understands 
and  to  which  they  respond.  He  knows  their  fail- 
ings and  their  sins,  their  fears  and  their  hopes,  and 
the  good  in  them  that  will  answer  the  appeal  of 
righteousness.  He  speaks  an  elemental  message 
and  they  know  it  is  true. 

Preachmg  then  is  a  social  process.  It  has  not 
always  seemed  so.  How  lonely  seem  the  great 
prophets  with  their  messages  of  doom.  But  they 
have  not  been  lonely.  Their  times  have  been  with 
them,  and  the  consciences  of  the  people  were  their 
allies.  The  people  were  with  Chrysostom,  though 
they  dreaded  his  searching  sermons.  Florence 
knew  that  Savonarola  spoke  the  truth.  And  even 
Edwards'  fiery  warnings  were  but  the  echoes  of  the 
fears  of  every  unregenerate  soul.  And  so  far  as 
these  men  did  not  speak  to  the  common  needs  there 
was  no  power  in  their  words.  Let  a  man  speak  of 
sins  which  his  hearers  do  not  feel,  or  of  hopes  which 
they  do  not  share,  and  there  is  no  rapport  between 
them,  and  so  no  power  in  his  words,  be  they  never 
so  true.  That  is  a  difficulty  in  much  of  the  social 
preaching  of  today.  Blinded  by  class  prejudice, 
men  do  not  see  their  sins,  so  the  privileged  may 


The  Need  of  Power  in  American  Preaching     g 

think  the  preacher  but  a  ranter,  and  the  unprivi- 
leged may  reckon  him  a  trimmer,  and  neither  may 
hear  the  message.  The  message  did  not  go  deep 
enough.  It  should  have  struck  below  superficial 
prejudices  to  the  sense  of  human  sympathy  and 
obligation.  An  oriental  monarch  might  not  brook 
a  reproof  for  an  act  of  selfish  tyranny  common  to  his 
kind,  but  the  man  David  recognized  the  guilt  of 
the  tyrant  in  the  parable,  and  Nathan  preached 
with  power  that  day.  There  is  preaching  today 
that  makes  men  feel  the  sin  of  social  tyranny  and  the 
sin  of  social  hate,  as  the  preacher  has  made  himself 
at  one  with  the  conscience  and  the  heart  of  his 
congregation. 

And  not  all  of  preaching  is  denunciation.  There 
is  comfort,  hope,  courage,  faith,  love,  to  preach 
about.  Let  one  get  below  the  commonplace  to  the 
common  needs  and  he  will  preach  with  power.  In 
the  dark  days  of  financial  depression  a  certain  pastor 
walked  down  the  street  and  talked  with  the  gloomy 
men  in  the  stores  who  were  looking  for  the  bad  to 
become  worse.  He  went  home  to  pray  and  to  get 
them  a  message.  Next  Sunday  he  gave  them  the 
text,  ''Then  the  king  arose  and  sat  in  the  gate." 
And  he  told  them  of  David,  with  the  bitter  sorrow 
in  his  heart,  clearing  his  brow,  going  forth  to  meet 
his  people,  saving  a  nation  from  disruption,  bring- 
ing courage  out  of  gloom.  He  preached  with  power 
that  day  and  the  people  remember  the  sermon  after 
twenty  years. 


lo  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

Given  this  social  quality  of  sympathy,  power  in 
preaching  may  be  defined  as  such  a  presentation 
of  an  intense  religious  conviction  as  shall  tend  to 
produce  in  the  congregation  an  emotional  expe- 
rience of  that  conviction. 

It  is  first  of  all  conviction.  A  man  discusses 
what  he  thinks;  he  preaches  what  he  knows.  There 
is  room  in  the  sermon  for  discussion,  for  the  pres- 
entation of  opinion,  for  a  definition  of  the  proper 
field  of  wise  agnosticism;  but  central  in  it  is  some 
conviction  which  the  preacher  believes  without 
doubt.  Our  age  needs  convictions.  We  are  con- 
stantly and  necessarily  changing  our  opinions. 
Every  advancement  of  science  compels  us  to  read- 
just our  theories,  so  we  are  in  danger  of  holding 
everything  tentatively.  There  is  the  more  need 
for  insistence  upon  moral  certainties.  Nothing  has 
modified  the  truth  that  "the  pure  in  heart  see 
God,''  and  he  who  thus  sees  God  can  preach  it. 
One  of  our  noble  elder  brethren,  whom  we  all  love, 
has  said,  "  I  am  as  sure  of  God  as  of  my  own  exist- 
ence. I  pillow  my  head  upon  that  faith  at  night." 
If  he  should  undertake  a  philosophical  definition 
of  Deity  we  might  not  agree  with  him,  but  he  has 
given  us  a  religious  experience  that  is  intensely  real 
to  him.  He  gives  it  with  power,  and  when  we  hear 
we  understand. 

The  conviction  to  be  presented  must  be  religious, 
for  that  is  what  makes  it  preaching.  A  man  may 
have  intellectual  convictions,  e.g.,  upon  economic 


The  Need  of  Power  in  American  Preaching    ii 

questions,  upon  industrial  questions,  even  upon 
theological  questions,  but  the  presentation  of  intel- 
lectual convictions  calls  for  a  certain  modesty,  and 
a  recognition  that  there  is  another  side  to  the  argu- 
ment. The  speaker  may  have  a  great  passion  of 
advocacy,  but  he  knows  that  he  is  pleading  a  cause. 
Religious  conviction  is  different  from  that,  for  it 
is  born  of  inner  experience.  It  is  communicated 
not  as  argument  but  as  deliverance.  That  it  is  more 
blessed  to  give  than  to  receive  is  a  proposition  that 
might  be  argued  psychologically  from  the  stand- 
point of  the  higher  hedonism,  and  it  would  be  possible 
to  maintain  with  good  show  of  reason  that  phi- 
lanthropy has  actually  exceeded  acquisition  in 
yielding  genuine  satisfaction  to  the  agent.  But 
it  is  a  different  matter  when  this  principle  of  life 
is  urged  out  of  an  experience  of  its  truth;  when  the 
scene  of  the  utterance  of  the  words  is  called  to  mind, 
and  the  hands  of  Paul,  scarred  by  rough  labor  that 
he  might  burden  no  man,  are  seen  extended  in 
benediction  over  the  men  whom  he  exhorts  to  help 
the  weak  with  sacrifice;  when  the  utterance  is 
followed  back  to  him  who  spake  it,  who  came 
not  to  be  ministered  unto  but  to  minister,  and 
who  found  his  joy  in  service;  and  when  the  glowing 
experience  of  those  who  have  given  themselves 
for  others'  good  is  called  to  mind.  It  is  not 
a  piece  of  dialectics  then;  it  is  a  revelation  of 
the  human  soul.  It  is  a  religious  conviction  which 
is  its  own  credential,  and  it  may  be  spoken  with 


12  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

the  power  that  belongs  to  the  certitudes  of  the 
heart. 

Or,  again,  there  is  the  proposition  that  a  laborer 
should  become  ipso  facto  part  owner  in  the  corpo- 
ration for  which  he  works.  This  is  a  profound  con- 
viction of  many  thoughtful  men  today.  But  it  is 
a  position  to  be  argued  and  defended  with  due 
recognition  that  there  is  much  to  be  said  theoreti- 
cally, as  well  as  practically,  against  it.  One  may 
speak  upon  it  with  force,  but  he  has  no  right  to  speak 
with  dogmatism,  for  many  thoughtful  people  think 
otherwise.  But  that  industry  should  become  a 
genuine  democracy  when  we  can  find  out  the  way, 
that  labor  should  never  be  dehumanizing,  that  he 
who  makes  the  prosperity  and  economic  security 
of  the  country  should  share  in  that  prosperity  and 
security,  that  we  should  have  a  Christian  industrial- 
ism— this  is  a  moral  conviction,  a  religious  con- 
viction, to  be  urged  with  the  passion  of  human 
sympathy.  And  if  there  are  those  who  do  not 
agree,  so  much  the  worse  for  them,  for  they  are 
wrong,  and  more  than  that  they  are  wicked.  There 
is  a  splendid  intolerance  about  a  religious  con- 
viction that  enables  one  to  dare  even  in  the  twentieth 
century  to  say,  "Thus  saith  the  Lord." 

And  power  in  preaching  is  such  a  presentation 
of  religious  conviction  as  secures  emotional  response. 
A  literal  rendering  of  the  opening  words  of  the  exile 
prophecy  runs,  ''Comfort  ye,  comfort  ye  my  people, 
saith  your  God,  speak  ye  to  the  heart  of  Jerusalem." 


The  Need  of  Power  in  American  Preaching    13 

Of  course  preaching  addresses  itself  to  the  intellect, 
because  it  is  reasoned  discourse.  But  the  truth 
finds  contact  with  our  emotional  experience.  We 
feel  its  truth,  and  only  so  are  we  impelled  to  action. 
When  Guthrie  preaches  on  "The  New  Heart,"  we 
do  not  argue  psychology  with  him,  we  feel  the  need 
of  the  divine  renewal.  When  Chalmers  tells  us  of 
"The  Expulsive  Power  of  a  New  Affection,"  we 
feel  that  he  is  right,  and  wish  that  such  a  tide  of 
larger  faith  and  hope  and  love  might  cleanse  our 
souls  of  their  impurities.  When  Spurgeon  speaks 
of  "Songs  in  the  Night,"  we  admire  the  ardent 
spirits  who  could  sing  amid  distress,  and  long  for 
such  a  victory  over  circumstance.  When  Beecher 
discourses  on  the  love  of  God  he  does  not  prove 
anything,  but  makes  us  breathe  the  atmosphere  of 
that  pervading  love.  When  Brooks  tells  us  of  the 
abundant  life  we  just  feel  that  it  is  glorious  to  live 
so  richly.  When  Moody  speaks  to  us  of  God  we 
feel  that  he  has  a  personal  friendship  with  him  of 
whom  he  speaks.  I  remember  a  man  criticizing 
Gypsy  Smith's  sermon  and  asking  my  opinion. 
I  told  him  that  doubtless  he  was  right,  but  that 
during  the  sermon  I  was  thinking  more  of  my  own 
sins  than  of  the  preacher's  homiletics.  When  we 
thus  feel  the  truth  the  pulpit  has  spoken  with  power. 
If  the  preacher  have  great  religious  convictions, 
how  may  he  so  express  them  as  to  secure  this  emo- 
tional response?  There  is  a  certain  mood  out  of 
which  great  preaching  comes.     The  men  who  have 


14  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

been  mighty  in  the  pulpit  have  laid  emphasis  on 
prayer.  Of  course  this  is  the  very  means  of  secur- 
ing religious  conviction.  But  it  is  especially  the 
prayer  preceding  preaching  that  has  made  men 
effective.  It  is  of  course  simple  psychological  law 
that  this  would  be  the  highest  preparation  for  the 
pulpit.  One's  theme  has  received  concentrated 
attention  in  relation  to  the  spiritual  meaning  of  the 
universe.  It  is  the  exercise  that  enables  a  man  to 
speak  of  himself  as  an  ambassador  of  Christ.  One 
thinks  of  the  familiar  story  of  the  deacons  meeting 
for  prayer  with  their  pastor  at  the  Metropolitan 
Tabernacle  in  London.  No  one  could  get  speech 
with  Whitefield  for  two  hours  before  his  sermon, 
preacher  of  superb  resources  though  he  was.  Does 
not  the  fussiness  of  the  hour  before  our  public  wor- 
ship deprive  our  ministers  of  the  power  that  might 
be  theirs  as  they  came  from  fellowship  with  God 
to  speak  to  his  people? 

We  have  said  that  this  power  of  speech  is  not 
a  matter  of  pleasing  voice  or  pulpit  presence  or 
effective  delivery.  And  yet,  of  course,  in  a  way,  it  is. 
A  man  may  have  convictions  and  be  unconvincing. 
He  may  be  profoundly  affected  but  move  no  one  else. 
Given  the  fundamentals  that  are  spiritual,  there  is 
an  art  of  preaching,  even  an  art  of  genuineness  and 
impressiveness,  that  greatly  needs  to  be  mastered 
if  congregations  are  to  feel  the  power  of  the  truth. 

And  then  there  is  a  technique  in  creating  a  mood 
in  the  congregation  to  respond  emotionally  to  the 


The  Need  of  Power  in  American  Preaching    15 

effective  sermon.  The  worship  which  precedes 
the  message  affords  great  opportunity  for  this. 
The  purpose  of  worship  is  the  culture  of  rehgious 
feeling.  Song,  prayer,  scripture,  response  should 
so  melt  a  congregation  into  unity  as  to  prepare  it  to 
hear  a  message  from  the  preacher's  life.  One  cannot 
help  wondering  whether  we  have  not  in  America 
made  most  clumsy  failure  in  this  fundamental 
matter  by  the  introduction  of  the  professional 
quartette,  who  are  not  supposed  to  be  ministers 
of  music  but  performers.  The  good  singing  of  real 
religious  music  is  of  course  highly  calculated  to 
produce  the  mood  of  worship,  but  the  moment  there 
is  any  appearance  of  performance  the  mood  is  dis- 
pelled. The  sermon  instead  of  coming  in  on  the  full 
tide  of  religious  feehng  has  often  the  difficult  initial 
task  of  calling  back  the  audience  from  the  concert- 
room  to  the  house  of  God.  As  a  matter  of  fact 
there  is  need  of  power  in  the  musical  service  of  the 
church.  But  that's  another  story:  I  am  concerned 
here  only  to  call  attention  to  the  need  of  supple- 
menting the  preparation  of  the  sermon  by  a  careful 
study  of  the  whole  course  of  the  worship  to  the  end 
that  there  may  be  an  effective  emotional  response 
of  the  people  to  the  message  of  the  hour.  It  need 
not  be  artificial;  there  is  nothing  so  natural  as 
a  masterpiece.  The  great  preachers  were,  in  the 
best  sense,  consummate  students  of  effect.  And 
power,  vital  as  it  is  in  origin,  is  ultimately  a  matter 
of  effect. 


1 6  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

But  how  shall  the  people  feel  that  the  message 
is  divine?  A  noted  English  evangelist  used  some- 
times to  stride  onto  the  platform  after  a  period  of 
singing,  and  startle  the  audience  with  the  announce- 
ment, "I  have  come  from  God.''  It  was  a  crude 
bit  of  stage  play;  but  he  was  a  good  man  and  his 
instinct  was  right.  He  must  let  the  people  know 
that  he  has  a  religious  message.  There  is  a  response 
to  a  religious  message,  which,  in  the  nature  of  the 
case,  is  given  to  no  other.  The  purpose  of  the  ser- 
mon is  to  help  the  people  to  meet  the  problems  of 
life  in  the  sense  of  the  fellowship  of  God.  So  the 
preacher  must  know  how  to  make  his  own  sense  of 
that  fellowship  real  to  his  people.  When  Moses 
spoke  his  face  shone.  There  is  such  a  staying  with 
God  that  the  evidence  shall  be  manifest  to  men. 
Am  I  unfortunate  in  my  example?  Shall  I  be 
reminded  that  Moses  "wist  not  that  his  face  shone  ?'' 
To  be  sure,  the  preacher  will  not  be  conscious  of 
that  inner  fitness  that  makes  his  sermon  strong,  but, 
like  Moses,  he  will  so  order  his  gathering  of  the 
assembly  at  the  foot  of  the  mount  that  they  will 
know  that  he  who  comes  to  them  with  the  law  of 
God  in  his  hand  has  come  from  ''speaking  with 
him.'*  The  old  mystics  worked  out  a  technique 
that  they  called  "the  practice  of  the  presence  of 
God."  It  is  ours  to  work  out  a  technique  of  prac- 
ticing to  make  real  the  presence  of  God  to  men. 
They  who  have  been  able  to  do  so  preached  with 
power. 


The  Need  of  Power  in  American  Preaching    17 

Is  there  any  need  to  argue  the  worth  of  a  vital, 
enthusiastic,  faith-compelling  pulpit?  Our  age 
must  have  a  preaching  that  probes  and  convicts, 
that  inspires  and  impels,  that  comforts  and  sus- 
tains; a  preaching  that  makes  men  conscious  of  their 
sins  so  that  they  will  hate  them,  and  believers  in 
righteousness  so  that  they  will  strive  for  it,  and  sure 
of  a  great  love  so  that  they  will  rest  in  it,  and  so 
hopeful  of  the  kingdom  of  God  that  they  will  pray, 
and  work,  and  fight,  and  live,  and  even  die  for  it. 
We  are  all  skeptics,  and  we  are  longing  for  faith, 
and  we  would  hear  a  man  who  believes  something 
worth  believing.  We  are  so  conscious  of  the 
mechanical  order  that  is  evident  all  about  us  that 
we  are  weary  for  a  man  of  vision  to  tell  us  of  spiritual 
values  that  he  has  found  in  the  world.  We  know 
that  the  things  that  are  seen  are  temporal,  but  we 
want  to  know  that  there  are  things  that  are  not 
seen  that  are  eternal.  Let  him  who  can  speak  of 
them  tell  us.  And  if  he  knows  the  truth,  and  knows 
how  to  tell  it,  we  will  listen.  Warring  interests 
will  listen;  youth  and  strength  and  age  will  Hsten; 
for  there  is  that  within  us  that  answers  to  the  truth 
as  deep  calleth  unto  deep. 


I 

THE  EVERLASTING  KINGDOM  OF 
RIGHTEOUSNESS 

BY 

CHARLES  RICHMOND  HENDERSON 


THE  EVERLASTING  KINGDOM  OF  RIGHT- 
EOUSNESS 

Thy  throne,  O  God,  is  for  ever  and  ever;  and  the  sceptre 
of  uprightness  is  the  sceptre  of  thy  kingdom  (Heb.  i  :8). 

In  the  civilized  world  the  most  glorious,  beautiful, 
and  permanent  structures  are  dedicated  to  religion. 
Religious  institutions  are  endowed  by  those  who 
believe  in  the  abiding  vitality  of  faith.  The  restless- 
ness and  vicissitudes  of  human  life  make  men  yearn 
for  something  which  cannot  be  moved.  The  pyra- 
mids of  Egypt,  the  temples  of  Greece  and  Rome,  the 
cathedrals  of  mediaeval  Europe  are  costly  and 
precious  monuments  of  this  demand  for  something 
enduring,  symbol  of  the  Eternal.  The  endowments 
established  for  religion  and  religious  education  bear 
witness  to  the  same  faith  in  the  future  of  religion  on 
this  earth. 

On  what  ground  do  men  make  these  investments 
of  sacrifice  and  wealth?  Is  there  reason  in  the 
nature  of  Christianity  and  the  nature  of  man  for  this 
anticipation  ? 

Let  us  make  as  precise  a  statement  as  possible  of 
the  meaning  of  our  claim  that  the  reign  of  our  God  is 
everlasting;  for  it  seems  to  many  a  bold  and  un- 
warranted promise  for  the  future.  All  admit  that 
religion  has  been  a  great  power  in  the  past;  but 
many  think  it  is  decaying,  and  that  it  has  already 


22  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

dwindled  to  be  merely  a  subordinate  factor  in  the 
world's  interests  and  motives.  We  confidently 
assert  that  the  reign  of  God  is  to  be  without  end,  and 
will  be  more  and  more  recognized  as  the  supreme 
and  dominating  human  interest. 

We  do  not  pretend  to  know  what  is  going  to 
happen  in  the  centuries  which  loom  before  us.  That 
is  not  revealed  to  us.  We  must  travel  onward  to 
see  for  ourselves  and  we  must  even  help  make  that 
future.  We  lay  no  claim  to  foretelling  personal  or 
national  fortunes;  we  leave  that  to  palmists,  gypsies, 
and  their  ilk,  who  feed  on  human  credulity  and 
ignorance. 

Oiu:  confidence  in  the  eternity  of  religion  rests, 
not  on  our  knowledge  of  future  happenings,  but  on 
our  rational  assurance  that  a  certain  spiritual  and 
moral  quality  is  the  essence  of  the  universe  in  which 
we  live,  of  which  we  form  an  organic  part,  and  from 
which  our  own  deepest  spiritual  nature  takes  its 
origin. 

We  must  assign  this  moral,  spiritual  quality  to 
One  who  is  akin  to  us,  to  the  Person  we  may  call 
Our  Father;  for  righteousness  as  a  mere  abstrac- 
tion does  not  exist;  it  is  conceivable  to  our  minds 
only  as  the  disposition  of  a  Person  who  manifests 
himself  to  us  and  in  us.  We  do  not  comprehend 
him  absolutely  and  completely;  but  we  have  trans- 
actions with  him  and  gain  some  valid  knowledge  of 
his  nature.  This  assurance  is  not  the  kind  of 
"knowledge"  which  makes  us  aware  of  past  events 


The  Everlasting  Kingdom  of  Righteousness     23 

or  actions;  it  is  rather  an  estimate  of  the  value  of 
events  and  things,  a  valuation  which  seems  to  fit  in 
best  with  all  we  know;  it  is  a  belief  which  of  itself 
makes  our  universe  congruous,  unified,  and  worth- 
ful  to  us;  and  it  is  a  belief  on  which  we  can  most 
surely  and  safely  act.  It  is  not  such  knowledge  as 
we  gain  through  the  senses,  but  it  is  an  interpretation 
of  that  knowledge  which  gives  reality  and  value  to 
all  we  see  and  hear. 

This  definition  of  our  claim  is  necessary,  because 
men  of  our  age  are  critical  and  quick  to  discover 
weakness  in  an  argument;  often  they  are  more  alert 
to  challenge  our  logic  than  able  to  assist  in  the  con- 
struction of  a  tenable  and  helpful  view  of  the  world. 
We  ourselves  do  not  wish  to  rest  upon  a  delusion  nor 
to  cheat  our  own  reason  with  pleasing  fallacies. 

We  are  ready  to  admit  many  and  serious  diffi- 
culties and  objections;  but  we  cling  to  our  con- 
viction because  it  is  the  only  positive  and  luminous 
working  hypothesis  which  brings  agreement  into 
our  rational  life  and  enables  us  to  act.  The  good 
man  is  not  one  who  never  has  a  doubt;  but  he  is  one 
who  determines  to  act,  in  spite  of  all  difiiculties, 
upon  the  theory  that  righteousness  ought  to  control ; 
and  he  waits  for  objections  to  disappear  of  them- 
selves, while  he  does  his  duty  hour  by  hour. 

''The  Kingdom  of  God,"  which  was  the  central 
theme  of  the  message  of  Jesus,  is  everlasting  because 
it  is  justice  realized;  and  righteousness  can  never 
pass  away. 


24  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

Justice  or  righteousness  is  not  mere  retribution, 
which  looks  to  the  past — to  guilt,  to  punishment. 
That  is,  of  course,  one  aspect  of  justice  which  cannot 
be  ignored;  but  if  that  were  all  of  religion  it  would 
come  to  an  end.  The  feeble  and  sinful  creature  could 
not  endure  all  he  deserves;  and  one  would  think 
God  would  grow  weary  of  acting  as  a  perpetual 
hangman.  Why  should  he  keep  up  the  burning  of 
useless  fires?  "I  have  no  pleasure  in  the  death  of 
him  who  dies,''  he  says  of  himself. 

Justice  looks  chiefly  to  the  future;  it  justifies;  it 
works  on  men  to  make  them  really  just  (Luke, 
chap.  15).  The  father  seeks  until  he  finds.  Retri- 
bution is  itself  not  an  end  but  a  means;  it  is  a 
revelation  to  a  man  of  the  true  nature  of  his  deed  and 
character,  bringing  both  home  to  him  so  he  can 
escape  from  their  tyranny  into  a  large  and  worthy 
universe. 

Religion — righteousness — is  permanent  because 
it  is  essentially  vital,  ascending,  transforming. 

We  may  sometimes,  misled  by  false  traditions, 
think  of  the  necessity  of  adapting  religion  to  new 
conditions;  as  if  somehow  this  impertinent  world 
were  in  danger  of  outgrowing  faith,  and  we  must  in 
desperation  adjust  our  beliefs,  institutions,  and 
methods,  though  with  reluctance  and  dread,  to  the 
changing  order.  Tradition,  use,  and  wont  seek  the 
eternal  in  the  changeless,  the  inert,  the  unmoving. 
But  this  is  to  look  for  the  living  in  a  tomb;  it  is  to 
deify  paralysis;  it  is  to  idolize  a  fossil. 


The  Everlasting  Kingdom  of  Righteousness     25 

The  truth  rather  is  that  the  spiritual  energy 
which  we  call  Christianity  is  itself  the  creator  of  new 
forms,  new  demands,  new  activities,  new  situations. 
Jesus  calls  his  gift  "eternal  life."  Jesus  Christ  was 
not  found  among  the  dead,  even  by  the  tender  women 
who  sought  in  the  tomb  for  some  relic  of  him  to 
honor.  The  white-robed  angel  declared:  "He  is 
not  here;  he  is  risen  and  goes  before  you.''  He  is 
never  found  in  the  rear  ranks,  but  always  in  the 
front  line  of  the  army  of  progress. 

Christianity — the  righteous  divine  life — is  re- 
sponsible for  all  the  mental  agitation,  the  invention, 
the  exploration,  the  restlessness  of  scientific  curi- 
osity. This  surging  commotion  in  the  souls  of  men 
is  the  evidence  of  the  working  of  Christianity. 
"The  kingdom  of  God  is  like  leaven";  so  Jesus  said. 

Men  my  brothers,  men  the  workers, 

Ever  seeking  something  new; 
That  which  they  have  done  but  earnest 

Of  the  things  which  they  will  do. 

This  quest  of  hope,  this  climbing  instinct,  is  a 
creation  of  the  righteous  God  working  in  us  his 
larger  will. 

Of  better  and  brighter  days  to  come 
Man  is  talking  and  dreaming  ever; 

To  gain  a  happy  and  golden  home, 
His  efforts  he  ceases  never: 

The  world  decays  and  again  revives; 

But  man  for  improvement  ever  strives. 


26  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

The  divine  Spirit  is  the  great  agitator  and  radical 
who  says,  "I  make  all  things  new."  It  is  the  leader 
who  said  through  Moses:  '^ Speak  to  Israel  that  they 
go  forward." 

Divine  justice  makes  men  whole,  perfect.  ^^  Jesus 
Christ  maketh  thee  whole."  "Be  ye  perfect,  even 
as  your  Father  who  is  in  heaven  is  perfect."  With 
this  ideal  before  us  mutilation  becomes  an  offense. 
Body  and  soul  have  their  rights.  Asceticism,  so  far 
as  it  required  suppression  of  mental  powers,  was  a 
sin  against  divine  purpose.  Athletic  exercise,  public 
hygiene,  recreation,  love,  friendship,  parenthood, 
art,  science,  commerce,  government,  politics,  all  are 
necessary  elements  in  the  divine  plan  for  developing 
humanity  to  perfection.  We  cannot  spare  one  of 
these  factors.  That  which  answers  any  real  human 
need  is  part  of  our  vocation.  It  is  our  duty  to  further 
life,  even  abundant  life. 

The  Kingdom  of  God  is  everlasting  because  men 
are  created  by  the  God  of  eternal  life  for  his  glory, 
and  men  can  rest  only  in  him.  Priests  did  not  invent 
religion;  but  religion  created  priests  and  churches 
and  altars;  and  as  religion — God's  life  in  man — 
grows  with  the  spirit  of  humanity,  it  calls  for  better 
priests,  prophets,  cults,  creeds,  churches,  and  it 
creates  them. 

There  can  never  come  a  time,  in  any  world,  where 
by  any  possibility  justice,  love,  faith,  hope  will  not 
be  the  supreme  good  of  intelligent  spirits.  "Now 
abide  faith,  hope,  love."     If  we  are  to  trust  reason  at 


The  Everlasting  Kingdom  of  Righteousness     27 

all,  even  to  expose  errors  in  religious  creeds,  we  must 
assume  that  righteousness  is  at  the  foundation  of 
the  world-order.  Any  other  assumption  makes  the 
pursuit  of  philosophy,  science,  action  insane,  bereft 
of  moral  quality. 

Let  us  deal  for  a  moment  with  a  skeptical  sug- 
gestion now  and  then  heard.  May  not  the  world 
find  a  substitute  for  religion;  some  experience 
which  will  be  for  man  what  at  its  best  faith  in  God 
has  thus  far  been  to  him  ?  Practically  a  good  many 
men  seem  to  imagine  that  this  is  possible. 

Will  athletics,  sport,  take  the  place  of  religion? 
To  the  superficial  observer  attending  a  football  play 
it  might  seem  that  religion  is  a  matter  of  minor 
importance.  No  such  crowds  can  be  gathered  to 
worship  or  listen  to  sermons.  To  witness  the  en- 
thusiasm, the  absolute  absorption  in  the  excitement 
of  the  conflict,  one  might  despair  of  religion,  and, 
for  the  same  reason,  of  art,  music,  and  all  the  other 
highest  factors  of  culture. 

But  all  this  tumult  and  shouting  dies.  It  is  too 
furious  to  last  long.  There  come  at  last  thinking, 
reflection,  anticipation.  One  cannot  judge  of  what 
is  deepest  and  most  enduring  by  some  interest  which 
flames  forth  like  a  conflagration  and  burns  out 
rapidly,  only  to  sink  into  gray  ashes  before  the  day 
is  past.  So  far  as  athletic  sports  perfect  men  physi- 
cally they  will  remain  a  legitimate  part  of  the  eternal 
life.  With  growing  knowledge  and  good  sense  their 
relative  value  will  be  established  in  a  rational  scale. 


28  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

Will  business  or  politics  offer  a  substitute  for 
religion?  Both  are  clamorous,  absorbing,  and  in- 
sistent. It  is  charged  by  many  European  observers 
that  Americans  care  for  nothing  but  money,  that  we 
bow  to  earth  before  the  Golden  Calf  and  serve  the 
Almighty  Dollar;  and  there  are  facts  which  may 
point  to  such  a  dishonoring  conclusion.  But  this 
again  is  a  superficial  account  of  things,  for  our 
business  men  are  buyers  of  goods  as  well  as  pro- 
ducers; and  they  have  an  object  in  making  money. 
Not  rarely  this  object  is  a  permanent  and  universal 
good,  a  service  to  humanity,  an  aid  to  idealism,  an 
endowment  of  worship. 

And  whatever  distracted  men  of  affairs  may 
do  or  think,  business  itself  is  an  expression  of  the 
divine  life  in  this  world.  The  ancient  Hebrews, 
in  an  age  when  national  existence  and  all  solemn 
trusts  had  to  be  defended  by  fighting,  imagined 
Jehovah  as  "a  man  of  war."  In  our  times  we  must 
think  of  the  Lord  as  a  man  of  business.  Industry 
and  trade  can  never  be  fully,  deeply  understood 
until  we  discover  what  the  Creator  is  making. 
Whatever  is  an  essential  factor  in  the  creative  evolu- 
tion of  a  perfect  race  of  sons  of  God  has  all  the  sig- 
nificance and  dignity  of  the  end  served. 

What  of  politics?  It  sometimes  requires  more 
than  a  superficial  glance  to  discover  the  Kingdom  of 
God  in  legislatures,  especially  when  they  insult  the 
White  Throne  by  resort  to  bribery  and  spoliation, 
and  when  they  vote,  perhaps  by  a  small  majority. 


The  Everlasting  Kingdom  of  Righteousness     29 

to  make  corruption  respectable  and  official.  This 
perversion  of  political  power  is  short-lived;  its 
doom  is  everlasting  shame,  and  they  who  are  guilty 
may  well  pray  for  oblivion.  Deep  in  the  spirit  of  the 
democracy  is  a  belief  in  righteousness  which  reasserts 
itself  from  age  to  age  with  clearer  vision  and  gather- 
ing power. 

Will  friendship  and  love  displace  religion  ?  They 
are  revelations  of  the  divine  goodness  and  fellowship; 
never  in  their  pure  form  are  they  substitutes  for 
that  friendship  which  is  the  archetype  of  all  tender 
affections  of  man  and  wife,  of  parent  and  child,  of 
friend  with  friend.  When  friendship  roots  deep  in 
the  rational  universe,  when  it  blossoms  into  generous 
deeds  and  sacrificial  martyrdom,  when  it  is  purified 
from  mere  passion,  when  it  insists  on  being  deathless, 
selfless,  then  it  is  not  to  be  distinguished  from  religion 
itself. 

Will  art  supersede  religion?  That  cannot  be; 
for  art  itself  is  just  the  most  perfect  method  known 
to  man  of  givmg  form  and  feature  to  divine  beauty. 
God  is  the  supreme  beauty,  and  he  loves  it  well. 
When  all  the  limbs,  organs,  and  countenances  of  men 
are  sound  and  perfect  in  action  we  call  the  being 
graceful.  Grace  in  body  is  akin  to  grace  in  spirit. 
If  art  ever  becomes  deforming,  immoral,  debasing,  it 
is  no  longer  enduring;  its  ignoble  function  as  ^^pro- 
curess to  the  lords  of  hell"  is  short-lived.  The 
standards  of  mature  criticism  let  only  expurgated 
editions  remain  popular. 


30  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

Will  science  and  scientific  interest  supersede 
religion  ?  There  are  men  who  are  deeply  absorbed, 
through  life,  in  the  work  of  investigations,  libraries, 
laboratories.  If  asked  whether  they  can  get  along 
without  belief  and  worship,  they  may  stop  long 
enough  to  say  they  have  not  had  time  to  think;  they 
may  even  break  silence  with  an  exclamation  of  im- 
patient doubt. 

But  such  enthusiasm  for  science  is  exceptional; 
it  belongs  to  few  men.  And  even  with  this  class,  to 
whom  humanity  owes  so  great  a  debt,  we  must 
not  be  deceived  by  external  appearances.  We  must 
ask  what  beliefs  are  assumed  without  much  reflec- 
tion in  their  daily  pursuits;  we  must  ourselves 
judge  of  the  significance  of  their  deeds  and  the 
worthfulness  of  their  labors.  We  may  even  have  a 
right  to  point  out  to  them  that  they  are  more  or  less 
consciously  priests  in  the  temple  of  duty,  who 

Do  thy  work  and  know  it  not. 


Who  loves  not  knowledge  ?    Who  will  rail 
Against  her  beauty  ?    Let  her  mix 
With  men  and  prosper;  who  shall  fix 
Her  pillars  ?    Let  her  work  prevail. 

I  would  the  great  world  grew  like  thee, 
Who  grewest  not  alone  in  power 
And  knowledge,  but  by  year  and  hour 
In  reverence  and  in  charity. 

The  Divine  One  is  not  all  '^ religious,"  if  we  use 
the  word  ^^ religious"  in  its  narrow,  traditional  sense. 


The  Everlasting  Kingdom  of  Righteousness     31 

The  Creator,  if  we  can  at  all  draw  inferences  from  his 
works  and  activities,  is  many-sided.  He  has  more 
interests  going  than  listening  to  endless  psalms  and 
hymns  of  adoration.  Who  but  he  is  architect  and 
builder  of  the  material  universe  ?  Is  not  he  a  painter 
when  the  glowing  west  at  sunset  is  splendid  with 
its  vast  canvas,  on  which  all  colors  flash,  to  become 
more  delicate  and  die  out  with  the  night  ?  Is  not  he 
a  singer,  when  the  birds  in  leafy  spring  sound  their 
love-calls  and  rise  on  joyous  wings  above  the  mead- 
ows with  their  harmonious  madness  ?  And  what  is 
that  the  sculptor  feels  within  him  when  he  shapes  his 
spiritual  vision  into  a  delight  and  a  desire  ?  When 
the  artist  really  knows  himself,  he  is  not  vain;  he 
tells  you  it  was  an  inspiration  from  a  better  world. 
He  works  with  God  to  decorate  the  habitation  of  the 
Spirit,  a  beautiful  universe. 

The  Kingdom  of  God  is  eternal;  but  are  the  insti- 
tutions of  religion  abiding  ?  Is  the  church  to  last  ? 
That  depends  on  whether  the  particular  church  in 
question  is  serving  the  righteousness  required  by  the 
ages.  Any  particular  sect  may  be  merged  in  a 
larger  trust.  Denominations  have  their  day  and 
cease  to  be;  our  little  systems  are  but  broken  lights. 

But  some  institution  called  a  church  will  remain 
so  long  as  such  agencies  are  needed.  The  poetic 
prophet  of  the  new  Jerusalem  '^saw  no  temple 
therein";  not  because  religion  had  become  extinct, 
but  because  God  was  all  in  all  as  the  temple  of  that 
fair  city. 


32  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

Humanity  learns  to  dress  in  furs  in  Greenland; 
wears  light  fabrics  in  India.  Its  garments  are 
changed  for  changing  seasons.  Humanity  builds 
churches  and  altars  to  meet  its  needs;  old  furniture 
which  gets  in  the  way  is  cut  to  new  patterns  or 
stored  in  museums  in  grateful  memory  of  bygone 
services  to  revered  ancestors. 

But  institutions  are  not  wholly  lost,  even  when 
discarded.  Each  age  is  child  of  all  that  precedes. 
Christ  came  not  to  destroy  but  to  fulfil.  The  sap- 
ling is  merged  in  the  tree;  the  rills  flow  into  a  river; 
the  mortal  will  put  on  immortality.  In  evolution 
matter  and  force  are  transformed,  never  anni- 
hilated; nothing  is  cast  aimless  to  the  void;  all 
experience  is  utilized;  tears  become  pearls.  The 
agonies  of  primitive  man  struggling  upward  reappear 
in  Wagner's  weird  and  awful  music  of  the  Nibelungen 

Ring, 

No  leaf  that  dawns  to  petal 
But  hints  the  angel  plan. 

Youth  may  become  prematurely  impatient  of  the 
institutions  of  religion  and  utter  hasty  and  callow 
judgments  about  them.  Thus  many  a  writer  besides 
Voltaire  has  foretold  the  passing  of  the  Bible.  It 
remains  classic.  As  someone  has  said:  the  story 
of  William  Tell  may  be  a  legend;  but  its  influence  on 
Swiss  patriotism  is  permanent.  The  story  of  the 
steam  issuing  from  the  boiling  kettle  as  the  sug- 
gestion to  Watt  of  a  steam  engine  may  be  a  fabrica- 
tion;   but  the  steam  engine  itself  is  a  fact  beyond 


The  Everlasting  Kingdom  of  Righteousness     33 

dispute.  The  story  of  Jonah  may  be  proved  an 
invention;  but  the  divine  patience  and  pity  revealed 
in  that  pathetic  narrative  are  of  all  times.  There 
never  was  a  "prodigal  son''  who  could  sit  for  a 
photograph;  but  Jesus  in  telling  the  matchless 
parable  opened  a  window  through  which  all  the  world 
can  see  a  Father  and  hear  His  welcome  home. 

Each  generation  desires  to  amend  its  constitu- 
tions and  revise  its  creeds;  but  that  is  only  to  give 
to  growing  freedom  and  justice  and  faith  a  more 
fitting  dress.  A  mummy  never  asks  for  new 
clothes;  the  old  costume  is  good  enough  for  its 
embalmed  bones.  Changes  of  creed  are  signs  of  life 
and  expansion. 

From  a  consideration  of  objections  we  return  to 
the  theme  of  our  message :  the  theme  of  justice,  the 
scepter  of  righteousness,  the  everlasting  kingdom. 
He  who  surrenders  his  life  to  that  cause  invests  in 
the  best  securities.  He  who  builds  on  the  divine 
will  has  abiding  foundations  for  his  immortal 
hopes.  What  we  do  will  be  modified;  but  no  deed 
of  service  for  Christ  will  ever  be  lost.  "  The  floweret 
may  die;  but  the  fruit  scents  the  plain." 

PRAYER 

Everlasting  God,  our  Heavenly  Father:  Before  the 
mountains  were  brought  forth,  or  ever  thou  hadst  formed 
the  earth  and  the  world,  thou  art;  the  same,  yesterday, 
today,  forever.  Thou  dwellest  in  light;  thou  reignest 
in  truth  and  uprightness.     Thou  art  reliable,  and  we 


34  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

trust  in  thee.  Chance  and  change  are  busy  ever;  and 
our  lives  are  often  in  the  gloom  of  the  shadows  of  dis- 
appointment. Sin  darkens  our  skies,  weakness  of  will 
defeats  us,  and  temptations  assail  us  from  the  night; 
we  know  not  whence. 

Oh,  come  to  deliver  us  now!  Thou  art  seeking  us, 
good  Father.  Awaken  in  us  wanderers  a  vast  and 
hungry  homesickness  for  thy  house  and  thy  welcome. 
We  are  dwelling  in  afar  country  among  strangers;  and 
we  are  terrified  in  the  desert  and  ashamed  of  our  con- 
dition as  slaves  in  company  with  sinners.  We  feel 
deep  within  us  the  call  to  the  freedom  of  heroes  of  God, 
and  a  mysterious  longing  is  in  our  hearts  to  he  at  home 
with  thee. 

We  beseech  thee  never  to  permit  us  to  rest  in  delicious 
error,  in  pleasant  sin,  in  popular  falsehood;  but  only  in 
active  service,  in  usefulness  to  our  fellow-creatures,  thy 
loved  children.  When  we  feel  secure  in  a  false  position, 
send  thorns  and  whips  of  scorpions  to  make  us  uneasy. 
When  we  are  satisfied  with  our  achievements,  reveal 
to  us  our  danger  of  losing  our  ideals  of  perfection. 
And  when  thy  discipline  seems  too  hard  to  bear,  give  us 
thy  gracious  help.  When  the  right  way  is  stopped  by 
mountains,  make  our  faith  strong  to  remove  them. 
When,  in  that  way,  we  come  to  the  brink  of  death,  and 
our  feet  touch  the  last  flood,  may  it  shrink  in  volume  and 
the  brighter  shore  be  found  near,  and  the  banks  of  green 
covered  with  loved  ones  ready  to  welcome  us. 

Thine  shall  be  the  kingdom,  and  the  power,  and  the 
glory,  world  without  end.    Amen. 


II 

THE  SALT  OF  THE  EARTH 

BY 

ERNEST  DEWITT  BURTON 


THE  SALT  OF  THE  EARTH 

Ye  are  the  salt  of  the  earth:  but  if  the  salt  have  lost 
its  savor  wherewith  shall  it  be  salted  ?  it  is  thenceforth  good 
for  nothing  but  to  be  cast  out  and  trodden  under  foot  of  men 

(Matt.  5:13). 

The  Sermon  on  the  Mount  is  a  collection  of  the 
sayings  of  Jesus  upon  one  of  the  most  important 
themes  on  which  Jesus  ever  spoke  to  men:  the  con- 
duct and  character  which  make  men  acceptable  to 
God. 

The  discourse  opens  with  a  collection  of  apho- 
risms, each  of  which  begins  with  the  word  "Blessed" 
and  which  together  set  forth  an  ideal  of  moral  char- 
acter. The  emphasis  of  these  sentences  is  not  upon 
what  men  do,  but  upon  what  they  are;  not  on  con- 
duct, but  on  character;  not  on  the  externals  of  life, 
but  on  that  which  is  inmost  in  life.  But  the  second 
paragraph,  of  which  our  text  constitutes  the  first 
part,  deals  with  the  influence  of  men  in  the  world, 
the  effect  which  men  of  such  character  as  that 
described  in  the  first  paragraph  have  upon  their 
fellow-men:  "Ye  are  the  salt  of  the  earth. '^  "Ye 
are  the  light  of  the  world." 

The  relation  of  these  two  paragraphs,  whether 
we  owe  it  to  Jesus  or  to  the  evangehst  who  gathered 
together  his  words,  in  any  case  truly  reflects  an 
important  characteristic  of  the  teaching  of  Jesus. 
The  religion  of  Jesus  is  fundamentally  a  religion  of 

37 


38  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

the  heart.  Its  primary  emphasis  is  not  on  ritual, 
not  on  externals,  not  even  on  conduct,  but  upon 
character.  Appropriately,  therefore,  the  Sermon  on 
the  Mount  begins  with  the  Beatitudes. 

But  appropriately  also  the  Beatitudes  are  imme- 
diately followed  by  a  paragraph  which  puts  the 
emphasis  on  the  transitive  aspect  of  character,  on 
the  influence  of  men  on  their  fellow-men.  For  the 
religion  of  Jesus  is  no  self -centered  religiosity.  It  is 
no  self-seeking  spirituaHty.  Its  center  is  far  beneath 
all  expression  and  all  conduct;  but  it  does  not  stop 
there.  It  inevitably  finds  expression  in  conduct,  and 
exerts  an  influence  on  others  than  its  possessor.  It 
is  fundamentally  personal  and  individual;  but  it  is 
just  as  certainly  transitive  and  social. 

But  what  then  precisely  is  the  nature  of  the 
influence  which  the  disciples  of  Jesus  are  expected 
by  him  to  exert?  For  it  is  evidently  his  disciples 
to  whom  Jesus  is  speaking  and  to  whom  the  ''ye" 
of  our  text  is  addressed.  The  sermon  is  introduced 
by  the  statement,  ''When  he  had  sat  down  his  dis- 
ciples came  unto  him  and  he  opened  his  mouth  and 
taught  them."  And  it  is  his  disciples  of  whom  he 
demands  that  they  shall  be  poor  in  spirit  and  pure  in 
heart  and  so  hungry  and  thirsty  after  righteousness 
that  they  will  be  persecuted  for  their  righteousness. 
What  then  is  the  influence  that  Jesus  expected  his 
disciples  to  exert  ? 

"Ye  are  the  salt  of  the  earth."  There  can 
be  no  doubt  that  when  Jesus  speaks  of  salt  he  has  in 


The  Salt  of  the  Earth  39 

mind  its  preservative  power — its  antiseptic  value. 
In  a  land  where  ice  was  almost  unknown,  and  the 
preservation  of  it  in  hot  weather  wholly  unknown, 
in  an  age  when  the  various  antiseptics  known  to 
modern  times  had  never  been  so  much  as  dreamed 
of,  salt  was  the  most  familiar,  probably  the  only, 
article  used  to  preserve  food  from  decay.  This 
article,  familiar  to  every  housewife,  Jesus  takes  as 
the  symbol  of  what  his  disciples  are  to  be  in  the 
world.  ^'Ye  are  the  salt  of  the  earth.''  By  your 
presence  in  the  community,  he  says,  the  community 
is  to  be  saved  from  moral  putrefaction. 

But  how  are  these  men  to  preserve  the  com- 
munity ?  As  even  ten  godly  men  would  have  saved 
Sodom,  because  for  their  sake  God  would  have 
spared  the  wicked  city  ?  No,  not  thus.  Men  do  not 
mix  salt  with  food,  and  then  preserve  the  food  after 
it  is  spoiled  for  the  sake  of  the  good  salt  there  is  in  it. 
They  put  salt  on  food  to  keep  it  from  decaying. 
Evidently,  therefore,  Jesus  is  speaking  here  of  the 
influence  which  his  disciples  are  to  exert  upon  the 
community  and  by  which  the  community  is  to  be 
kept  morally  sound  and  sweet. 

But  to  the  imposition  of  this  duty  which  he  thus 
lays  upon  his  disciples,  Jesus  adds  a  solemn  warning: 
"But  if  the  salt  have  lost  its  savor,  wherewith  shall 
it  be  salted  ?  it  is  thenceforth  good  for  nothing  but 
to  be  cast  out  and  trodden  under  foot  of  men." 

But  how  can  salt  lose  its  savor  ?  In  the  sense  of 
the  modern  chemist  this  is  indeed  impossible.     To 


40  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

him  salt  is  simply  chloride  of  sodium.  As  such  it 
camiot  lose  its  properties.  You  may  dissolve  it, 
or  dry  it;  expose  it  to  air  and  light,  or  shut  it  in  dark- 
ness. So  long  as  there  is  a  particle  of  it  left  it  is 
simply  salt,  and  has  all  the  qualities  of  salt.  But 
Jesus  is  not  speaking  of  the  salt  of  the  modern 
chemist,  but  of  the  salt  of  ancient  commerce  and 
of  ancient  household  use.  And  this  salt  not  being  a 
pure  chemical  compound  but  a  mixture  of  true  salt 
with  other  ingredients,  it  was  possible  that  all  the 
true  salt  should  be  dissolved  out  of  it,  and  there 
be  left  behind  only  a  white  powder,  looking  like 
salt  indeed,  but  having  none  of  the  savor  of  salt 
and  none  of  its  preservative  power.  It  is  indeed, 
so  Jesus  says,  worse  than  no  salt  at  all;  it  is  con- 
temptible, fit  only  for  rejection  and  contempt — to  be 
cast  out  and  trodden  under  foot  of  men.  So  is  the 
professed  disciple  of  Jesus  who  is  not  so  in  reality  but 
only  in  appearance  and  name.  He  is  worse  than 
useless,  he  is  contemptible. 

This  then  is  the  teaching  of  Jesus  in  these 
familiar  words.  He  lays  upon  his  disciples  a 
serious  responsibility;  he  addresses  to  them  a 
solemn  warning.  They  are  to  be  the  preservative 
force  in  human  society,  preventing  its  decay  and 
moral  putrefaction.  But  they  are  to  accomplish 
this  effect,  not  by  bearing  a  name  nor  by  having  an 
appearance,  but  by  actually  possessing  character  and 
exerting  the  influence  which  that  character  gives 
them.     Perhaps  it  would  be  well  to  stop  here,  and 


The  Salt  of  the  Earth  41 

with  this  brief  statement  of  their  meaning  let  the 
words  of  our  Lord  preach  their  own  solemn  sermon 
to  all  who  call  themselves  his  disciples.  Yet,  lest  we 
fail  to  make  the  application  to  our  own  lives  and 
conduct,  let  us  try  to  put  this  teaching  into  a  few 
sentences  which,  being  stated  in  the  language  of 
today,  may  help  us  to  make  the  teaching  practical. 

I.  The  only  force  that  can  preserve  society  from 
corruption  and  give  it  true  prosperity  is  the  presence 
and  influence  of  good  men.  Doubtless  we  all  assent 
to  this  proposition.  But  the  world  generally  does 
not  believe  it,  and  there  is  a  strong  tendency  on  the 
part  of  the  disciples  of  Jesus  to  lose  faith  in  it. 

It  is,  for  example,  a  very  common  belief  among 
men  that  commercial  prosperity  is  that  which  is  most 
needful  for  the  well-being  of  any  community,  from 
the  family  to  the  nation.  How  much  of  the  talk 
upon  the  streets  about  hard  times  and  good  times, 
how  much  of  the  writing  for  the  press  has  at  bottom 
this  thought  that  commercial  prosperity  carries 
with  it  well-being  in  general!  Jesus  did  not  hold 
this  doctrine.  The  men  to  whom  he  said,  '^Ye  are 
the  salt  of  the  earth,"  were  not  the  money-kings  of 
Judea,  nor  were  they  in  any  large  sense  the  represent- 
atives of  the  financial  interests  of  their  land.  Had 
they  dropped  out  of  society  altogether  it  is  doubtful 
whether  the  commercial  world  would  have  felt  the 
sHghtest  shock.  Four  of  them  had  indeed  been 
fairly  successful  in  a  small  fish  business,  and  one  of 
them  had  been  a  collector  of  petty  port-customs  on 


42  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

the  Sea  of  Galilee.  But  even  these  occupations  they 
had  abandoned  to  follow  Jesus,  to  listen  to  his 
teachings,  and  to  do  his  work.  No,  Jesus  believed 
that  not  financial  prosperity  but  moral  and  religious 
men  could  save  the  world  from  decay  and  rottenness. 

And  all  history  has  gone  on  to  show  that  he  was 
right.  Consider  how  it  is  in  families.  How  often 
has  it  happened  that  the  son  reared  in  a  godly  home, 
amid  humble  surroundings,  perhaps  even  in  poverty, 
has  gone  out  into  the  world  and  by  the  force  of  those 
quaHties  which  his  early  training  gave  him  has  gained 
great  wealth.  Transmitting  this  to  his  sons,  they 
have  perhaps  walked  in  his  footsteps.  But  how 
sadly  often  has  it  happened  that  in  the  next  genera- 
tion, or  at  the  most  in  the  next  but  one,  industry 
has  been  succeeded  by  idleness;  diligence  in  business 
by  luxury  in  living;  high  ideals  by  grossness  and 
sensuality;  until  the  representatives  of  the  once 
honored  name  are  despised  and  scorned,  not  by 
stern  morahsts  only,  but  by  honorable  men  of  every 
class. 

Consider  how  it  has  been  with  nations.  Have  the 
periods  of  great  financial  prosperity  brought  with 
them  a  sweetening  and  purifying  of  the  life  of  the 
nation?  Have  they  been  the  times  of  heroic  en- 
deavor and  of  splendid  achievement  ?  On  the  con- 
trary, it  has  come  to  be  recognized  that  every  such 
period  brings  with  it  grave  danger,  and  that  periods 
of  depression  and  of  loss  are  not  only  certain  from  an 
economic  point  of  view,  but  almost  a  matter  of  neces- 


The  Salt  of  the  Earth  43 

sity  for  the  preservation  and  development  of  the 
nation's  real  life. 

Again  there  are  those  who  believe  that  culture 
and  education  are  the  forces  that  preserve  society 
from  decay.  Now  he  is  surely  blind  who  does  not 
see  that  the  world  has  never  had  a  greater  friend 
to  true  culture  and  true  education  than  Jesus.  He 
was  himself  an  educated  man  in  the  true  sense  of  the 
words,  a  diligent  and  acute  student  alike  of  books  and 
of  men.  More  than  this,  he  was  a  profound  thinker, 
or  to  use  a  still  more  exact  word,  a  seer,  one  whose 
thought  lingered  not  on  the  surface,  but  plunged 
with  wonderful  insight  to  the  depths  of  things.  His 
thinking  had,  moreover,  that  marvelous  repro- 
ductive power  which  is  characteristic  of  only  the 
ablest  thinking.  His  thought,  clothed  in  a  few 
pregnant  words,  has  set  other  men  to  thinking,  and 
has  kept  them  thinking,  day  after  day  and  year 
after  year.  To  a  marvelous  degree  he  has  swayed 
the  thinking  of  all  the  centuries  since  his  day,  and 
his  thought  was  never  more  potent  in  the  thinking 
of  the  world  than  it  is  at  this  hour.  Jesus  Christ 
has  been  the  world's  greatest  educator  and  greatest 
friend  to  education.  But  Jesus  did  not  put  his  faith 
in  culture  and  education  either  as  divorced  from 
character  or  as  a  basis  of  character.  The  men  whom 
he  chose  to  be  his  apostles  were  doubtless  men  of 
good  minds.  But  they  were  not  men  who  repre- 
sented the  culture  and  the  cultivation  of  the  day, 
nor  who  were  devoted  to  culture  and  education  for 


44  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

their  own  sake.  They  had  not  the  learning  of  the 
Pharisaic  scribe,  they  had  not  the  social  polish  of 
the  Sadducee  and  the  Herodian.  They  included 
few  either  of  the  Josephs  of  Arimathea  or  of  the 
Nicodemus'  of  Jerusalem.  They  were  men  who 
were  drawn  to  him  by  the  attraction  of  his  character 
and  of  his  teaching,  men  capable  of  appreciating 
moral  truth,  of  absorbing  it  into  their  lives,  and  of 
living  it  out  in  a  passionate  enthusiasm. 

Let  me  not  fail  to  make  it  clear  that  I  am  not 
intending  to  represent  Jesus  as  putting  religion  and 
culture  in  mutual  antagonism.  If  there  were  time, 
it  would  be  easy  to  show  that  Jesus'  conception  of 
religion  identifies  it  in  its  fundamental  spirit  with 
true  scholarship.  What  I  am  affirming  is  that  Jesus 
did  not  find  the  saving  power  of  the  world  in  intel- 
lectuality but  in  morality,  that  he  put  moral  force 
above  intellectual  culture,  made  character  the  root 
from  which  cultivation  and  education  were  to  spring, 
not  culture  and  intellectual  training  the  source  of 
morality. 

And  history  has  gone  on  to  prove  that  Jesus  was 
right.  Wherever  there  have  been  true  religion  and 
high  character,  there  have  followed  culture  and  edu- 
cation. The  church  has  brought  the  schoolhouse. 
Conversion  has  been  followed  by  intellectual  quick- 
ening and  broad  culture.  But  whenever  culture 
has  been  divorced  from  morality,  whenever  men  in 
their  intellectual  pride  have  believed  themselves 
to  have  outlived  the  need  of  morality  and  religion, 


The  Salt  of  the  Earth  45 

then  there  have  speedily  followed  corruption,  decay, 
disaster.  And  the  most  desperate  vice,  the  most 
revolting,  putrefying  corruption,  has  been  found  in 
cultivated  society  which  has  thrown  off  the  restraints 
of  morahty.  Old  Pompeii,  buried  in  the  ashes  of 
Vesuvius,  preserved  for  centuries  to  tell  in  our 
own  day  the  unvarnished  tale  of  her  culture  and 
corruption,  modern  Paris  and  London  and  New  York 
can  tell  us  tales  of  revolting  rottenness,  of  despicable 
and  desperate  wickedness,  such  as  make  the  savagery 
of  savage  tribes  untouched  by  culture  and  education 
seem  like  puritanic  righteousness. 

Again  there  is  a  tendency — and  this  particularly 
among  rehgious  people — to  believe  that  rehgious 
institutions  will  save  us.  Jesus  lived  in  a  nation 
excessively  devoted  to  religion.  The  golden  roof 
of  its  temple  in  Jerusalem  flashed  back  the  rays  of 
the  eastern  sun,  and  from  its  great  altar  the  smoke 
of  its  sacrifices  rose  continually.  The  city,  moreover, 
was  full  of  synagogues,  where  the  Law  was  read  and 
expounded,  and  scarcely  a  hamlet  in  the  land  but 
maintained  its  synagogue  worship.  Jesus  did  not 
antagonize  these  things,  but  neither  did  he  spend 
any  of  his  force  in  the  attempt  to  build  them  up. 
He  began  farther  back.  To  him  forms  of  worship, 
institutions  of  religion,  signified  nothing  unless  they 
had  their  source  in  a  state  of  heart.  When  they 
asked  why  he  did  not  teach  his  disciples  to  fast, 
he  answered,  in  effect:  Forms  that  express  no  inner 
fact  are  useless.     To  my  disciples  I  am  imparting  a 


46  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

new  spirit,  which  will  by  its  own  power  break 
asunder  all  old  forms,  and  make  its  own  new  forms. 
I  am  concerned  only  with  the  spirit. 

Jesus  put  little  faith  in  religious  institutions  as 
a  preservative  force  in  human  society.  The  men  to 
whom  he  said,  '^Ye  are  the  salt  of  the  earth,"  were 
not  the  representatives  of  temple  or  synagogue; 
they  were  neither  rabbis  nor  priests.  They  were 
men  humble  and  obscure  but  capable  of  receiving 
moral  truth  and  of  transmuting  it  under  the  stimulus 
of  his  presence  into  moral  character.  Jesus  put  his 
faith,  not  in  religious  institutions,  but  in  the  per- 
sonal character  of  religious  men. 

And  again  history  has  gone  on  to  prove  him 
right.  The  cathedrals  of  the  world  have  been  sur- 
rounded to  their  very  doorsteps  with  the  poverty 
and  the  wretchedness  and  the  wickedness  of  human- 
ity. Wherever  men  have  laid  stress  upon  religious 
institutions  in  the  place  of  right  character,  those 
institutions  themselves  have  become  a  source  of  cor- 
ruption and  a  deadening  influence  in  the  community. 
But  a  single  human  life  filled  with  the  Spirit  of 
Christ  becomes  a  center  of  moral  power,  and  makes 
for  itself  a  moral  oasis  in  the  midst  of  the  desert 
of  sin. 

2.  A  second  proposition  which  is  virtually  in- 
volved in  the  teaching  of  Jesus  is  this:  The  only 
force  that  can  make  men  and  women  influential  for 
good  is  good  character.  This  again  we  all  accept 
in  theory,  but  are  prone  to  ignore  and  forget  it. 


The  Salt  of  the  Earth  47 

For  example,  we  are  inclined  to  feel  that  a  Chris- 
tian profession  is  itself  effective;  that  simply  to  take 
the  name  of  Christian  is  itself  somehow  to  exert  a 
good  influence  in  the  world.  Jesus  held  the  precise 
opposite.  In  the  words,  "If  the  salt  have  lost  its 
savor  ....  it  is  thenceforth  good  for  nothing  but 
to  be  cast  out  and  trodden  under  foot  of  men,"  he 
expresses  his  estimate  of  the  value  of  a  merely 
nominal  Christianity.  It  is  good  for  nothing  except 
to  be  rejected  and  despised.  And  however  the 
world  may  differ  from  Jesus  in  its  estimate  of  the 
forces  that  preserve  society,  it  agrees  with  him  in  his 
estimate  of  the  worthlessness  of  merely  nominal 
religion.  The  world  rejects  and  despises  it.  Thank 
God  it  is  so.  To  make  it  otherwise  would  be  to  set 
one  more  obstacle  in  the  way  of  the  progress  of  real 
Christianity.  For  there  is  no  more  real  foe  to  man- 
kind or  to  Christianity  than  a  merely  nominal  Chris- 
tianity— the  salt  that  still  bears  the  name  of  salt, 
but  has  lost  its  savor. 

Did  you  ever  read  the  story  of  Besolow  the 
African  Prince?  This  young  African  grew  up 
almost  to  manhood  in  the  heart  of  Africa  in  the 
life  of  the  tribe  of  which  his  father  was  the  chief, 
without  ever  having  heard  of  Christ  or  Christianity. 
In  a  little  book  which  he  published  after  his  coming 
to  America  and  his  conversion  to  Christianity,  he 
tells  with  plainest  simplicity  the  story  of  that  life 
in  Africa.  There  is  much  that  is  dark  and  brutal  in 
it— surely  it  is  very  far  below  the  life  that  is  lived 


48  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

where  true  Christianity  prevails  and  shapes  the  Hfe. 
But  I  confess  that  as  I  read  that  simple  story  the 
thought  that  forced  itself  upon  me  most  prominently 
was  this:  Such  a  life  as  that  with  all  its  coarseness 
and  its  rudeness  is  better — in  all  essential  respects 
better — than  much  of  that  selfish  and  self-centered 
living  which  prevails  in  Christian  lands,  and  some- 
times even  calls  itself  Christian.  Better  the  natural 
darkness  of  nature-worship  than  the  unnatural 
sinning  against  light,  which  easily  assumes  to  itself 
the  name  of  Christian,  while  utterly  devoid  of  its 
life  and  power. 

But  some  who  will  not  maintain  that  the  name 
of  Christian  carries  with  it  the  power  of  Christianity 
still  cling  to  the  thought  that  outwardly  respectable 
conduct  is  enough  to  give  one  the  power  of  a  Chris- 
tian in  the  world.  But  the  words  of  Jesus  are  op- 
posed to  this  thought  also.  The  salt  that  has  lost 
its  savor  looks  like  salt,  but  it  has  no  power;  it  is 
fit  only  for  rejection  and  contempt. 

And  again  experience  shows  that  Jesus  is  right. 
Some  years  ago  a  man  who  had  held  an  important 
position  in  the  Christian  church  was  discovered 
to  have  been  for  years  living  a  grossly  immoral  life. 
Two  men  who  had  known  him  were  speaking  of  the 
fact.  And  one  of  them  said,  "I  cannot  understand 
it.  That  man  always  seemed  to  me  a  man  of  singular 
purity  and  nobleness  of  character."  And  the  other 
answered,  "I  cannot  understand  how  you  could  have 
judged  him  thus.    Never  did  I  look  into  the  face  of 


The  Salt  of  the  Earth  49 

that  man  but  my  very  flesh  did  creep  with  abhor- 
rence, and  when  I  heard  him  read  the  Bible  I  felt 
as  if  the  sacred  words  had  been  desecrated  by  his 
voice,  and  the  sacred  book  soiled  by  his  touch." 
There  is  a  shrewd  saying  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  applied 
by  him  to  politics,  but  equally  applicable  to  morals: 
"You  can  fool  all  the  people  some  of  the  time;  you 
can  fool  some  of  the  people  all  of  the  time;  but  you 
cannot  fool  all  the  people  all  the  time."  So  an  out- 
wardly respectable  life  may  deceive  some  people  for 
a  time,  but  so  often  has  it  happened  that  some 
people  saw  through  the  disguise  all  the  time,  and  that 
in  the  end  the  garment  of  deception  was  completely 
stripped  away,  that  it  has  become  almost  a  proverb 
among  men  that  the  character  of  a  man,  and  not  his 
outward  action,  determines  the  effect  of  his  life. 

3.  A  third  proposition  which  is  at  least  suggested 
by  these  homely  words  of  Jesus  is  this:  The  good 
men  and  women  who  are  to  save  human  society 
from  decay  and  corruption,  keep  it  morally  sweet  and 
pure,  must  come  into  touch  with  the  world  which 
they  would  save.  Salt  in  the  salt-cellar,  in  the 
barrel,  in  the  sea,  preserves  no  food.  I  shall  not 
insist  that  this  is  an  intended  part  of  the  teaching 
of  these  words  of  Jesus.  I  am  content  to  claim 
that  the  words  suggest  it  and  that  Jesus  has  else- 
where taught  the  lesson  alike  by  expHcit  precept 
and  by  example.  He  sent  his  disciples  into  the 
very  homes  of  those  that  were  to  be  reached.  He 
himself  lived  among  men  and  in  closest  contact  with 


50  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

men.  The  very  fact  of  the  incarnation — the  name 
Immanuel  which  the  Gospels  apply  to  him,  "God 
with  us" — is  a  reminder  of  the  fact  that  the  Savior 
of  men  must  live  among  men.  The  gospel  has 
rarely  been  successfully  preached  by  long-distance 
telephone.  The  world  could  never  be  saved  by  an 
absentee  God,  nor  by  an  absentee  church. 

The  disciples  of  Jesus  have  sometimes  lost  sight 
of  this  fact.  The  mediaeval  monk  withdrew  into 
his  cloister  to  save  his  soul  from  harmful  contact  with 
the  world's  evil.  Sometimes  the  modern  saint 
builds  himself  an  elegant  palace  or  a  comfortable 
home  and  almost  as  effectually  withdraws  from  sav- 
ing contact  with  the  world  that  is  to  be  saved.  Some- 
how we  must  touch  the  world  if  we  would  save  it. 

How  then  shall  we  acquire  that  character  that  will 
give  us  saving  power  in  the  world?  Does  it  come 
by  heredity?  A  good  ancestry  is  a  great  asset; 
but,  alas,  how  many  sons  of  righteous  men  have 
been  themselves  devoid  of  moral  power,  corrupters 
of  society  rather  than  saviors  of  men!  Is  it  the 
product  of  environment  and  education  ?  The  influ- 
ences that  surround  us  powerfully  affect  us;  but  not 
in  them  is  the  secret  of  character  or  moral  power. 
Will  resolution  or  volition  make  me  what  I  ought 
to  be  and  wish  to  be  ?  No  man  ever  became  good 
without  the  action  of  his  own  will  and  the  exertion  of 
all  the  moral  power  of  which  he  is  capable;  but  no 
man  ever  achieved  more  than  a  partial  and  unsatis- 
factory success  in  an  effort  to  save  himself.    The 


The  Salt  of  the  Earth  51 

apostle  Paul  demonstrated  sufficiently  for  all  time 
the  futility  of  this  method.  When  heredity  and 
environment  and  resolution  and  volition  have  done 
their  utmost  there  must  still  be  added  a  power  not 
ourselves  that  makes  for  righteousness.  It  is  the 
eternal  God  entering  into  gracious  partnership 
with  us  that  alone  can  create  in  us  that  character 
which  will  both  save  us  and  enable  us  to  be  saviors 
to  others. 

And  the  surest  path  the  world  has  ever  found  to 
saving  fellowship  with  God  is  through  discipleship 
to  his  Son  Jesus  Christ.  The  men  to  whom  Jesus 
said,  '^Ye  are  the  salt  of  the  earth/'  were  his  dis- 
ciples. It  was  to  them  as  his  disciples  that  he 
said  these  words.  We  do  not  need  to  deny  the 
value  of  the  teachings  or  influence  of  Moses  or 
Zoroaster  or  Confucius.  They  have  done  their 
work,  and  in  large  part  it  was  a  good  work.  But 
the  greatest  character-producing  force  that  has  ever 
come  into  human  history  is  Jesus  Christ.  He  it 
was  that  brought  into  being  that  great  religious 
movement  which  we  call,  by  his  name,  Christianity, 
and  which,  with  all  its  defects,  has  wrought  so 
mightily  for  the  advancement  of  human  welfare,  the 
ennobling  of  human  life,  the  elevation  of  human 
society;  and  the  most  potent  influence  in  the  world 
today  for  producing  pure  and  noble  character  is 
Jesus  Christ,  the  God-revealing  Son  of  God. 

Would  you  be  an  effective  power  for  the  moral 
betterment  of  the  world,  a  force  making  for  all  that 


52  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

is  good  and  ennobling,  then  you  must  first  of  all  be 
yourself  pure  and  strong  within.  The  salt  without 
savor  is  both  powerless  and  contemptible.  Would 
you  then  possess  the  character  without  which  no 
activity,  however  strenuous,  will  make  you  in  the 
long  run  a  force  for  good  in  the  world,  sit  first  at  the 
feet  of  Jesus,  take  his  yoke  upon  you  and  learn  of 
him;  enlist  under  his  captaincy,  surrender  your 
soul  to  his  Spirit,  learn  to  say  with  the  apostle  Paul, 
''It  is  no  longer  I  that  live  but  Christ  that  liveth  in 
me.''  So  shall  you  be  of  those  to  whom  it  can  be 
said,  "Ye  are  the  salt  of  the  earth." 

PRAYER 

We  give  thee  thanks,  O  Heavenly  Father ,  not  only 
for  the  pleasures  of  life,  hut  for  its  tasks  and  its  responsi- 
bilities. Believing  in  the  Father  who  worketh  even  until 
noWj  upholding,  redeeming,  saving,  and  in  his  Son, 
who  could  say,  ^^  And  I  work,'^  we  rejoice  to  he  workers 
together  with  God  and  followers  of  Jesus  Christ.  By 
thy  Spirit,  make  us  true  disciples  of  Christ,  pure  in 
heart,  hungry  and  thirsty  after  righteousness,  that  so 
we  may  he,  hy  our  very  presence  in  the  world,  a  power 
to  sweeten  human  society  and  to  save  human  souls. 
May  we  ever  ahide  in  thee,  and  so  bring  forth  much 
fruit,  even  the  peaceable  fruits  of  righteousness.  In 
the  name  of  Jesus  Christ  our  Master,  we  ask  it. 
Amen. 


Ill 

MANUFACTURED  GODS 

BY 

SHAILER  MATHEWS 


MANUFACTURED  GODS 

Of  the  residue  thereof  he  maketh  a  god 

He  feedeth  on  ashes;  a  deceived  heart  hath  turned  him 
aside,  that  he  cannot  deliver  his  soul,  nor  say,  Is  there  not 
a  lie  in  my  right  hand?  (Isa.  44: 17,  20). 

Sometimes  an  idol  marks  the  rise  of  spiritual 
power.  When  primitive  men  come  to  see  that  the 
power  on  which  they  depend  is  not  as  impersonal  as 
they  have  believed,  and  so  begin  to  fashion  their 
idea  of  God  in  the  form  of  a  man,  there  begins 
a  new  epoch  in  their  reHgion.  But  at  other  times 
an  idol  marks  the  decline  of  religious  zeal — the 
destruction  of  spiritual  power.  It  is  this  feature 
of  idolatry  of  which  the  prophet  spoke,  and  that 
to  which  I  would  direct  your  thought. 

The  ancient  world  believed  that  a  god  went  with 
his  people  to  war.  When,  therefore,  a  people  had 
been  conquered,  the  implication  was  clear  that  its 
god  had  been  conquered.  The  Hebrews  had  passed 
through  a  succession  of  extraordinary  misfortunes, 
culminating  in  their  subjection  to  the  people  of  the 
North.  Yet  they  had  been  told  by  their  prophets 
to  trust  Jehovah.  In  their  imperfect  fashion  they 
had  trusted.  And  then  they  found  themselves  in 
captivity  to  conquerors  who  worshiped  idols.  What 
more  natural  than  that  there  should  creep  over 
their  minds,  sick  with  defeat,  the  suspicion  that 

55 


56  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

their  God  Jehovah  was  not  so  mighty  as  those  cruel 
war-gods  of  Assyria?  What  more  natural  than 
that  they  should  turn  to  the  worship  of  the  con- 
quering gods  who  were  so  concrete,  and  distrust 
the  God  they  had  never  seen,  whose  law  was  so 
severely  righteous,  and  whose  aid  had  apparently 
been  useless  ?  So  they  began  to  turn  from  Jehovah, 
to  the  gods  which  were  real,  and  tangible,  and  suc- 
cessful. They  began  to  manufacture  gods  out  of 
that  which  was  real  and  useful.  The  God  who  was 
Spirit  had  failed;  the  gods  who  were  of  wood  should 
be  worshiped. 

The  strong  words  of  the  prophet  relate  how  one 
of  these  men  who  had  lost  confidence  in  the  spirit- 
ual God  of  Abraham  went  out  to  the  hillside,  felled 
a  tree,  and  cut  the  trunk  up  into  parts.  One  of  these 
he  used  for  baking  meat,  another  he  used  for  baking 
bread,  another  he  used  to  make  a  fire  to  warm  him- 
self, and  the  rest  of  the  log  he  made  into  a  god — 
a  god  made  out  of  left-over  firewood. 

Of  course  such  lapse  from  a  spiritual  faith  seems 
far  away  in  the  past,  but  the  attitude  of  mind  it 
indicates  is  by  no  means  ancient.  This  distrust  of 
the  ability  of  spiritual  power,  this  conviction  that  in 
some  way  a  man  may  make  a  more  efficient  substi- 
tute for  the  unseen  and  often  apparently  weak  God 
of  our  fathers'  faith,  is  by  no  means  confined  to  the 
days  of  the  Hebrew  prophets.  For  what  do  we  mean 
by  God  ?  Is  it  not  that  to  which  we  appeal  for  the 
justification  of  our  desires,  the  court  of  last  appeal 


Manufactured  Gods  57 

for  a  conscience?  We  are  all  in  danger  of  doing 
exactly  as  the  man  of  the  olden  time — of  taking 
something  very  concrete,  very  real,  and  from  it 
making  this  court  of  last  appeal,  thereby  turning  from 
the  God  of  Jesus  to  the  god  of  utility.  Whatever 
God  we  may  have  on  Sunday,  whatever  God  we  may 
have  in  our  creeds,  there  are  few  of  us  who  are  not 
in  danger  of  manufacturing  a  god  for  practical 
purposes.  And  every  such  attempt  at  the  manu- 
facture of  gods  is  a  testimony  to  our  distrust  of  the 
finahty  of  the  spiritual  order,  to  our  suspicion  that 
truth  and  virtue,  justice  and  fraternity,  love  and 
sacrifice  are  not  after  all  the  eternal  things  of  life; 
that  the  God  whom  Jesus  reveals  is  too  severe  for 
practical  purposes. 

Sometimes  we  distrust  the  very  fundamental 
sanity  of  the  universe  and  erect  Chance  into  a  sort 
of  god.  Of  course  we  do  not  make  idols  in  a  Hteral 
sense.  True,  we  have  Billikins,  but  Billikins  are 
not  idols!  True,  we  do  not  really  believe  in  mas- 
cots— ^but  how  should  we  ever  hope  to  win  any 
conflict,  from  football  to  politics,  without  a  mascot  ? 
True,  we  dislike  to  sit  thirteen  at  table,  but  this  is 
from  the  regard  of  the  feelings  of  some  one  of  the 
thirteen!  True,  we  dislike  to  say  that  we  are  very 
prosperous  or  that  our  children  are  well,  without 
rapping  three  times  on  wood;  but  that  is  only  to 
make  sure  that  some  misfortune  does  not  overtake 
us!  No,  these  customs  are  not  idolatrous — they 
are  only  silly. 


58  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

Yet  on  second  thought  they  are  worse  than  silly. 
Each  is  evidence  that  men  are  ready  to  act  as  if  the 
universe  were  not  rationally  ordered — an  aspect  of 
that  distrust  of  God  which  the  gambler  shows.  And 
whenever  a  man  thus  substitutes  chance  for  reason, 
luck  for  purpose,  and  a  gambler's  odds  for  definite 
planning,  the  rational  universe  reaches  over  and 
ruins  him.  Other  vices  are  in  a  way  a  prostitution 
of  powers  which  are  natural  and  desirable  for  life. 
The  gambler  looks  into  the  face  of  the  great  uni- 
verse and  declares  it  a  freak,  without  reason,  mere 
chance.  And  therefore  the  life  most  difi&cult  to 
reconstruct  into  any  sort  of  moral  worth  is  the  Hfe 
of  the  gambler.  He  makes  a  god  of  Chance,  and 
Mischance  rules  him,  body  and  soul.  He  feedeth 
on  ashes;  a  deceived  heart  hath  led  him  astray,  so 
that  he  cannot  say,  "Have  I  not  a  lie  in  my  right 
hand?'' 

But  those  of  us  who  are  above  this  insanity  of 
trusting  to  chance  too  often  make  a  god  out  of  the 
very  things  which  are  of  great  value  in  themselves 
— things  of  the  utmost  utility  in  life  as  we  live  it. 

There  is  business,  for  example.  No  man  would 
belittle  our  commercial  activity.  The  great  monu- 
ments of  our  wonderful  civilization  are  due  to  com- 
merce. Our  arts,  our  sciences,  and  our  splendid 
institutions — these  are  all  the  blossoming-forth  of 
the  capacity  of  men  to  get  wealth.  Yet  one  can 
clearly  see  that  when  a  person  erects  business  in'^^o 
a  court  of  final  appeal  in  matters  of  morals  and 


Manufactured  Gods  59 

substitutes  the  laws  of  trade  for  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount,  he  is  pubHshing  his  distrust  of  the  ethics 
of  Jesus. 

You  manufacture  a  god  to  get  permission  to  do 
the  things  which  our  real  God  forbids  you  to  do. 
When  a  man  says  that  this  or  that  principle  is  not 
appHcable  to  business  in  face  of  the  fact  that  his 
Christian  conscience  tells  him  it  is  right,  he  is 
making  a  god  to  justify  himself.  A  man  once  said 
to  me,  "I  am  just  as  much  interested  in  ideal  things 
as  you  are,  but  in  my  business  it  is  not  always 
possible  to  do  the  ideal  thing."  But  what  is  this 
but  saying  that  business  has  been  erected  into  a 
court  of  appeal  intended  to  displace  the  court  estab- 
Hshed  by  Jesus  and  by  God  ?  He  is  manufacturmg 
a  god,  an  idol,  out  of  something  useful  in  its  sphere 
but  never  intended  to  be  the  final  court  of  moral 
appeal,  never  intended  to  be  a  god.  And  the 
penalty  is  inevitable — he  loses  the  power  of  moral 
insight.  He  cannot  see  that  he  has  a  lie  in  his  right 
hand. 

Then  there  is  the  god  of  Social  Convention. 
Social  conventions  are  a  most  admirable  necessity 
of  life.  How  should  we  live  the  social  life  if  not  for 
these  conventions?  By  them  we  know  how  many 
cards  to  leave  when  making  a  call,  when  to  make 
our  calls,  what  time  our  friends  may  reasonably  be 
expected  to  wish  to  receive  a  call.  What  should  we 
do  without  the  countless  other  customs  of  life? 
They  are  the  lubricants  of  our  social  machinery. 


6o  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

But  we  cannot  safely  make  a  god  of  social  con- 
vention to  whom  we  make  our  final  moral  appeal. 
We  know  perfectly  well  that  many  customs  do  not 
tally  with  our  ideals.  We  go  shamefacedly  to 
places  of  amusement,  read  certain  books,  wear 
strange  fashions  in  clothes,  dance  suggestive  dances. 
Everybody  does  it,  why  should  not  we?  "Every- 
body does  it" — as  if  custom  made  everything  right! 
Children  array  themselves  against  their  parents' 
advice,  believing  that  what  everybody  does  is  right. 
Men  and  women  violate  their  best  impulses  and 
plead  the  same  justification. 

But  no  one  ever  erects  that  sort  of  god  and  elects 
to  worship  him  without  finding  his  moral  idealism 
growing  weaker.  The  worship  of  every  second- 
hand god  always  weakens  the  worshiper's  capacity 
to  make  moral  distinctions.  He  who  erects  any 
god  to  justify  desires  which  the  God  of  Jesus  will 
not  justify  finds  his  moral  fiber  weakened  by  the 
very  law  of  life.  But  there  is  no  god  whose  worship 
is  more  debilitating  than  the  god — "Everybody 
does  it." 

We  make  a  god  of  Culture.  Far  be  it  from  any- 
body to  belittle  culture.  To  be  able  to  appreciate 
real  music  as  over  against  ragtime;  to  love  real 
pictures  rather  than  the  vulgarities  of  the  comic 
supplement;  to  appreciate  real  literature  instead  of 
the  inanities  of  the  popular  fiction;  to  see  that  life 
is  full  of  the  laws  of  beauty  and  to  enter  into  sym- 
pathy with  those  laws;    to  grow  keen-eyed   and 


Manufactured  Gods  61 

strong;  to  have  fellowship  with  that  which  is  true 
and  beautiful  and  of  good  repute — these  are  some 
of  the  gifts  of  true  culture.  The  mere  ability  to  do 
the  conventional  thing  is  not  necessarily  culture. 
Learning  is  not  culture.  Some  of  the  most  learned 
people  have  manners  for  which  you  have  to  apologize. 

But  to  honor  culture  may  be  to  fashion  one  of 
the  great  idols  of  our  modern  world.  For  it  may 
spring  from  the  distrust  of  spiritual  standards. 

I  was  once  discussing  the  reahties  of  art  and 
morality  with  a  certain  actor.  He  insisted  that 
there  was  no  relation  between  the  two,  that  a  good 
play  could  be  written  on  any  subject.  I  did  not 
agree  with  him  and  said  to  him,  "Do  you  mean  to 
say  that  you  can  write  a  play,  say,  on  the  subject 
of  a  garbage  can  ?"  He  was  a  trifle  dismayed,  but 
was  true  to  his  logic,  declaring  that  it  could  be  done. 
In  view  of  some  of  the  plays  which  he  produces, 
I  am  inclined  to  think  that  he  practices  what  he 
believes.  But  what  of  our  moral  sense  ?  To  think 
that  we  may  discuss  every  topic  under  heaven  pro- 
vided only  we  discuss  it  artistically  or  with  good 
technique  is  to  blunt  the  minds  of  the  people  to 
moral  distinctions  so  that  they  cannot  tell  light 
from  darkness. 

Moral  vulgarity  often  comes  to  us  so  alluringly 
through  charming  music,  deHcate  literary  style, 
exquisite  artistic  technique,  that  we  are  in  danger 
of  becoming  artistically  and  technically  skilled 
instead  of  being  morally  virile.    Experience  ought 


62  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

to  convince  us  that  this  means  moral  decay. 
Wherever  you  see  a  soul  beginning  to  substitute 
mere  interest  in  culture  for  virile  interest  in  moral 
life,  there  you  will  see  a  soul  erecting  a  new  sort  of 
god  who  will  permit  him  to  act,  think,  and  enjoy 
and  ultimately  believe  that  which  the  God  of  Jesus 
will  not  tolerate.  For  in  the  case  of  culture  as  in 
that  of  business  and  social  convention  we  do  not 
create  gods  to  make  morals  sterner,  but  looser. 

Sometimes  we  manufacture  a  god  out  of  the 
noblest  and  most  precious  material — the  god  of 
Social  Service.  Far  be  it  from  me  to  speak  a  word 
except  of  heartfelt  admiration  for  that  new  attitude 
of  helpfulness  which  marks  our  age.  To  have  had 
any  part  in  setting  forth  to  the  world  the  social 
significance  of  Christianity  is  one  of  the  elements  of 
life  of  which  a  man  may  well  be  proud.  But  to 
make  social  service  an  expression  of  religion  is  one 
thing;  to  make  it  a  substitute  for  God  is  another. 
So  to  love  the  heavenly  Father  as  to  enter  into 
fraternity  with  your  earthly  brother — that  is  the 
heart  of  the  ethics  of  Jesus.  But  to  hold  that  there 
is  no  immorality,  no  right  or  wrong;  that  life  has 
nothing  but  universal  misery;  and  that  in  this  serv- 
ice of  misery  one  has  the  only  possible  God,  is  the 
heart  of  an  altruistic  pessimism.  I  have  known 
people  of  that  sort.  I  honor  them  highly  but  I  pity 
them  more.  For  to  render  service  without  some 
great  spiritual  enthusiasm  is  a  poor  substitute  for 
the  gospel  with  its  saving  God. 


Manufactured  Gods  63 

The  hope  of  the  world  ultimately  rests  upon 
real  religion.  You  cannot  find  in  convention,  cul- 
ture, or  sympathy  with  your  fellow-victims  a  sub- 
stitute for  God.  Those  who  make  the  attempt 
remind  one  of  the  nobles  during  the  French  Revo- 
lution, as  they  mounted  the  tumbril  with  women 
and  children.  They  wiped  the  eyes  of  the  little 
children  and  cheered  the  women  to  die  bravely. 
But  they  were  all  alike  on  the  way  to  the  guillotine. 
They  were  fellow- victims,  without  hope  of  rescue. 

There  is  no  enthusiasm  in  forlorn  hopes.  You 
cannot  worship  one  whom  you  pity.  You  cannot 
make  social  enthusiasm  contagious  if  you  feel  that 
the  world  is  not  worth  saving,  or  that  there  is  no 
great  Mind  caring  for  the  world.  If  you  are  going 
to  lift  the  world,  you  need  a  God  to  help  you 
lift. 

Nothing  so  breeds  heroism  as  a  social  passion 
based  on  a  confidence  in  the  God  of  the  crucified 
Christ.  Nothing  is  more  splendidly  Christian  than 
a  vicarious  fraternity  born  of  confidence  in  the  justice 
of  a  loving  God.  If  he  is  in  his  heaven,  it  may  not 
yet  be  all  well  with  the  world,  but  it  certainly  will 
be  well.  A  self-devotion  to  the  needs  of  the  world 
that  has  no  such  faith  conceals  a  distrust  of  the 
reality  and  power  of  the  God  of  Jesus,  and  leads  to 
a  substitute  god  who  is  less  than  the  God  in  Christ. 
In  the  experience  of  all  servants  of  our  fellow-men 
there  come  moments  of  supreme  spiritual  test, 
when  they  must  choose  between  the  god  of  human 


64  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

need  and  the  God  who  so  loved  the  world  that  he 
sent  his  Son,  not  to  condemn  the  world,  but  to  save 
the  world. 

And  similarly  in  all  the  higher  reaches  of  our 
lives.  The  most  deadly  enemy  each  of  us  must 
face  is  the  suspicion  that  life  in  its  ultimate  result 
is  not  spiritual.  The  next  most  dangerous  enemy 
is  the  desire  to  win  quick  and  concrete  success.  We 
want  to  tabulate  saved  souls  in  statistical  tables; 
to  distil  reputations  from  our  sacrifices.  But  God 
is  greater  than  man's  aspirations.  The  moral  im- 
perative needs  a  God  greater  than  the  policies 
a  sense  of  duty  may  lead  us  to  adopt.  That  man 
is  indeed  unfortunate  who  thinks  that  his  powers 
justify  him  in  accomplishing  whatever  he  is  able 
to  accomplish.  Duty  at  best  is  only  the  stern 
handmaid  of  the  Almighty.  When  we  champion 
the  ever-living  God  with  enthusiasm  there  comes 
such  a  keen  sense  of  unseen  realities  of  life  that  the 
mere  doing  of  this  or  that  task  grows  unsatisfying. 
Our  souls  find  serenity  and  joy  only  as  we  feel  that 
we  are  serving  the  God  of  the  universe.  Manu- 
factured gods  with  all  their  power  to  make 
morality  easier  will  not  satisfy  us.  They  feed  us 
on  ashes;  they  leave  us  aliens  in  the  court  of 
heaven. 

I  stood  once  in  an  observatory  and  watched  a 
great  telescope  photographing  some  star  that  eye  had 
never  seen.  The  photograph,  which  the  great  glass 
had  taken  on  a  little  piece  of  glass  the  size  of  an 


Manufactured  Gods  65 

old-fashioned  window  pane,  was  of  the  nebula  in 
Andromeda.  I  am  not  an  astronomer  but  I  have 
been  told  that  if  one  knew  just  where  to  look,  and 
if  the  atmospheric  conditions  were  favorable,  it 
might  be  possible  for  a  person  to  see  the  nebula 
of  Andromeda,  with  the  naked  eye,  as  a  tiny  point 
of  light.  But  when  this  great  glass  reached  into  the 
mysteries  of  the  universe  it  brought  back  a  sweep  of 
light,  as  if  one  were  looking  on  the  very  brushmarks 
of  the  Almighty  as  he  painted  infinite  space.  But 
even  this  was  as  nothing  compared  with  the  hundreds 
and  thousands  of  little  spots  of  light  with  which  the 
photograph  of  awful  Andromeda  was  surrounded. 
"What  are  these  tiny  spots  of  light?''  I  asked. 
"These,"  the  astronomer  said,  "are  stars  the  size  of 
our  sun,  or  larger." 

If  you  are  to  live  in  a  universe  where  hundreds 
and  thousands  of  stars  the  size  of  our  sun  blaze 
unseen  in  the  space  of  Hght  no  larger  than  a  pin- 
head,  you  need  a  God  as  big  as  your  universe.  You 
cannot  believe  that  the  God  who  is  taking  care  of 
Andromeda  and  all  those  stars,  who  is  upholding 
a  cosmos  that  stretches  into  abysses  imagination 
itself  cannot  fathom,  will  tolerate  a  dishonest  or 
lawless  man;  you  cannot  believe  that  a  God  by 
whom  the  sun  and  the  moon,  the  stars  and  the 
planets  are  ranged  in  order  will  permit  us  to  sub- 
stitute artistic  technique  for  fundamental  agreement 
with  his  law;  you  cannot  believe  that  a  God  whose 
purposes  run  unchallenged  through  countless  ages 


66  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

will  allow  human  misery  to  conquer  his  great  will. 
Here  is  the  real  alternative  religion  thrusts  straight 
at  our  souls:  Shall  we  trust  such  a  God  or  turn  to 
some  god  of  our  own  manufacture  ? 

If  a  man  will  follow  the  God  of  Jesus  Christ  and 
seriously  make  his  life  assume  the  attitude  toward 
the  world  which  Jesus  assumed  himself,  he  will 
share  in  the  splendid  faith  that,  however  hard  his 
lot,  the  great  process  in  which  we  are  involved 
will  not  end  in  vanity  and  the  ashes  of  moral  defeat. 
And  such  a  man,  instead  of  making  out  of  some 
utility  of  life  a  pantheon  of  gods  to  help  him  justify 
some  lowered  ambition  or  desire,  will  pray  to  God 
the  Father,  maker  of  heaven  and  earth,  '^Thy  will 
be  done  on  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven." 

And  he  will  not  pray  in  vain. 


PRAYER 

Almighty  and  All-loving  God:  Give  us,  we  beseech 
thee,  a  truer  knowledge  of  thyself,  that,  despite  all 
temptations  to  think  of  thee  easily  or  to  worship  in 
thy  stead  some  hope  or  custom  of  our  own  making, 
we  may  follow  thee  with  assurance  and  courage. 
Forgive  our  oft-repeated  disloyalty  to  thee.  In  a  world 
ready  to  justify  its  own  selfishness  hy  sacred  words, 
may  we  unflinchingly  follow  thy  will  as  we  see  it 
revealed  in  Jesus  Christ.  Protect  us  from  all  hypocrisy 
and  comfortable  excuses  for  folly  and  indifference. 
Open  our  eyes  that  we  may  see  thee  above  the  strife 


Manufactured  Gods  67 

of  earthly  interests.  Grant  to  our  hearts,  so  often 
distracted  hy  the  appeal  of  immediate  success,  the 
serenity  of  those  who  obey  thy  laws  and  trust  in  thy 
redeeming  love.  And  help  us  day  hy  day  to  consecrate 
our  lives  to  thy  service,  that  in  thy  fellowship  we  may 
learn  to  love  thee  as  our  Father  and  our  neighbor  as 
our  brother.     Through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.    Amen. 


IV 

THE  PROPHETIC  ATTITUDE  IN 
RELIGION 

BY 

J.  M.  POWIS  SMITH 


THE  PROPHETIC  ATTITUDE  IN  RELIGION 

Would  that  all  Jehovah's  people  were  prophets,  that 
Jehovah  would  put  his  spirit  upon  them  (Num.  ii :  29). 

In  the  narrative  to  which  the  text  belongs,  the 
magnanimity  of  Moses  is  given  a  perfect  setting. 
In  accordance  with  the  command  of  Jehovah,  Moses 
is  said  to  have  chosen  seventy  men  from  among  the 
elders  of  Israel  and  to  have  assembled  them  in  the 
immediate  vicinity  of  the  Tent  of  Meeting.  There- 
upon, the  Spirit  of  Jehovah  had  come  down  upon 
Moses  and  had  been  transferred  from  him  to  the 
seventy  elders.  These  had  at  once  begun  to 
prophesy.  Meantime,  two  men  who  had  been 
selected  to  go  to  the  Tent  of  Meeting  and  had  not 
gone,  but  had  remained  behind  in  the  camp,  were 
reported  to  Moses  as  having  likewise  received  the 
Spirit  of  Jehovah  and  as  having  begun  to  prophesy 
among  the  people  in  the  camp.  Impulsively, 
Joshua,  the  minister  of  Moses,  solicitous  for  the 
honor  and  authority  of  his  master,  which  seemed  to 
be  set  at  naught  by  such  procedure,  besought  Moses 
to  put  an  end  to  such  lawless  doings:  "My  lord 
Moses,  forbid  them."  The  greatness  of  Moses 
lifts  him  above  petty,  personal  considerations  and 
enables  him  to  say,  ''Art  thou  jealous  for  my  sake  ? 
Would  God  that  all  Jehovah's  people  were  prophets, 
that  Jehovah  would  put  his  spirit  upon  them." 
Pleasing  and  profitable  as  is  the  contemplation  of 

71 


72  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

such  submergence  of  self  in  the  higher  interests  of  a 
great  cause,  I  wish  to  invite  your  attention  at  this 
time  to  the  consideration  of  another  Hne  of  thought 
suggested  by  the  text,  viz.,  the  value  of  the  prophetic 
spirit  and  attitude  in  religion. 

Modern  Bible-study  has  revolutionized  our  con- 
ceptions of  the  nature  and  work  of  the  prophet. 
He  is  no  longer  looked  upon  as  a  wholly  incompre- 
hensible, mystical  being,  standing  half-way  between 
earth  and  heaven  and  belonging  to  neither.  He  is 
not  one  to  whom  Jehovah,  in  some  psychologically 
unintelligible  manner,  imparted  knowledge,  con- 
cerned partly  indeed  with  the  prophet's  own  age, 
but  in  far  larger  part  dealing  with  the  distant 
future,  centuries  beyond  the  prophet's  own  day.  He 
was  rather  a  genuine  man,  and  all  his  interests, 
activities,  and  capacities  were  such  as  are  common 
to  man.  He  hved  and  worked  among  the  men  of 
his  own  day;  his  preaching  was  primarily  to  and  for 
them;  he  called  them  to  repentance  and  threatened 
them  with  punishment,  or  encouraged  them  with 
promises  to  be  fulfilled  during  their  life  here  upon 
earth.  He  got  his  message  as  men  of  God  have  re- 
ceived their  call  and  their  commission  through  all  the 
ages.  He  read  the  will  of  Jehovah  in  the  movements 
of  world-history,  in  the  events  and  conditions  of  his 
own  day,  and  in  the  promptings  of  his  own  heart  and 
conscience. 

It  was  characteristic  of  the  race  to  which  he 
belonged   to   see    God    everywhere.     They   heard 


The  Prophetic  Attitude  in  Religion  73 

God's  voice  in  the  roar  of  the  wind  and  the  crash 
of  the  thunder.  They  saw  his  blazing  wrath  in 
the  flash  of  the  Hghtning.  God  was  not  for  them 
at  the  end  of  a  syllogism;  he  was  the  major  premise, 
the  basal  fact  of  all  thought  and  life.  God  was  not  to 
be  argued  about,  but  taken  for  granted  as  the  most 
real  and  forceful  personality  in  the  universe.  The 
world  apart  from  God  was  for  them  unthinkable.  It 
was  this  feeling  for  God,  this  deep-seated  conviction 
of  his  existence,  this  living  consciousness  of  his 
presence  in,  and  power  over,  his  world,  that  made 
prophecy  possible.  Out  of  the  great  mass  of  the 
people  at  large  who  were  dominated  by  this  thought 
of  God  there  arose  from  time  to  time  in  Israel's 
history  great  individuals  through  whom  the  higher 
truths  of  God  were  mediated  to  the  masses.  These 
were  the  prophets,  men  of  wide  intelligence  and 
keen  insight,  alert  to  all  that  was  going  on  about 
them  and  seeking  to  interpret  it  all  from  the  stand- 
point of  God.  These  men  of  seeing  eye  and  listen- 
ing ear,  wondrously  sensitive  to  the  presence  of 
God,  knew  themselves  to  be  in  such  immediate  and 
personal  contact  with  him  and  so  cognizant  of  the 
divine  will  that  they  had  not  the  slightest  hesitation 
in  representing  themselves  as  the  spokesmen  of 
Jehovah,  saying,  "thus  saith  Jehovah."  This  con- 
stant listening  for  the  divine  message,  this  con- 
sciousness of  direct  communication  with  God,  this 
assurance  of  fellowship  between  the  individual 
soul  and  the  world-soul,  was  the  secret  of  the  power 


74  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

of  prophecy  and  the  indispensable  prerequisite  to 
the  exercise  of  this  highest  of  all  spiritual  functions. 

Prophecy,  however,  ran  its  course  in  Israel  and 
ceased  to  be.  Its  thought  of  God  as  ever  present  in 
his  world  and  ever  seeking  to  reveal  himself  to  those 
able  to  receive  the  revelation  was  forced  into  the 
background.  In  its  place,  there  came  the  rule  of  the 
priests.  These  brought  to  the  fore  the  thought  of 
God  as  majestic  and  holy  and  thus  separated  from 
his  worshipers  by  a  gulf  impassable.  Access  to 
him  became  ever  more  and  more  difl&cult  and  was 
possible  only  through  a  most  rigid  and  elaborate 
ritual  performed  by  a  specially  sanctified  and  con- 
secrated priesthood  acting  as  mediator  between 
God  and  man.  The  will  of  God  was  thought  of  as 
having  been  revealed  once  for  all  in  the  sacred  law, 
the  interpretation  of  which  was  the  special  preroga- 
tive of  the  priests  and  scribes.  Within  the  limits  of 
this  law  and  ritual  many  devout  souls  kept  their 
religious  life  aglow  with  zeal  and  devotion,  but 
they  constituted  a  minority.  For  the  masses,  the 
law  with  its  almost  innumerable  enactments,  ex- 
panded and  elaborated  by  tradition  so  as  to  extend 
into  and  control  every  sphere  of  thought  and  life, 
reduced  religion  to  a  cold  and  formal  legalism.  The 
typical  representatives  of  the  religion  thus  reduced  to 
its  lowest  terms  are  the  Pharisees  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment period. 

Into  a  religious  society  so  constituted  came  Jesus 
and  kindled  into  new  life  the  prophetic  thought 


The  Prophetic  Attitude  in  Religion  75 

of  God.  In  this,  as  in  other  respects,  he  was  the 
true  descendant  of  the  prophets.  No  one  can  read 
the  records  of  the  life  of  Jesus  and  escape  the  fact 
that  he  felt  himself  to  be  in  immediate  touch  with 
his  heavenly  Father.  He  was  God's  child  in  his 
Father's  world.  The  sense  of  the  sustaining  presence 
of  God  appears  in  every  action  and  in  his  whole  atti- 
tude toward  life.  Tradition  recognizes  this  fact  in 
the  records  of  the  Baptism  and  the  Transfiguration. 
His  constant  recourse  to  prayer  as  a  method  of 
communion  with  God  witnesses  to  his  sense  of  the 
divine  fellowship,  and  even  the  despairing  cry, 
"My  God,  my  God,  why  hast  thou  forsaken  me?" 
is  a  measure  of  the  reaHty  and  genuineness  of  his 
dependence  upon  the  divine  love  and  strength. 
But  he  did  not  leave  us  to  learn  by  inference  only 
concerning  this  phase  of  his  thought  of  God.  His 
utterances  upon  the  subject  are  clear  and  unmis- 
takable. For  example,  he  distinctly  repudiated  the 
idea  that  the  Mosaic  law  was  the  complete  expres- 
sion of  the  will  of  God  and  that  the  channel  of 
revelation  was  therefore  closed.  Indeed,  he  did 
not  hesitate  at  times  to  set  aside  the  law  of  Moses 
and  supersede  it  with  a  new  law.  ''  Moses  for  your 
hardness  of  heart  suffered  you  to  put  away  your 
wives;  but  from  the  beginning  it  hath  not  been  so. 
And  I  say  unto  you,  whosoever  shall  put  away  his 
wife,  except  for  fornication,  and  shall  marry  another, 
committeth  adulter>\"  The  same  independence  of 
the  law  and  consciousness  of  right  appear  in  the 


76  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

story  of  the  woman  taken  in  adultery.  He  even 
seems  to  have  taken  particular  pains  to  guard 
against  the  possibility  of  his  disciples  and  followers 
looking  upon  the  revelation  that  had  come  through 
himself  as  final.  He  sought  rather  to  keep  alive  in 
them  the  expectation  of  further  and  fuller  revelations 
by  the  assurance  of  the  coming  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
"I  have  yet  many  things  to  say  unto  you,  but  ye 
cannot  bear  them  now;  howbeit  when  he,  the 
Spirit  of  truth,  is  come,  he  shall  lead  you  into 
all  truth.''  And  again,  "It  is  necessary  for  you  that 
I  go  away;  but  if  I  go  away,  I  will  send  the  Com- 
forter unto  you."  Necessary  ?  What  an  astonish- 
ing statement!  Why  necessary?  Doubtless,  lest 
they  should  come  to  put  the  human  Jesus  between 
themselves  and  God.  Nothing  must  be  permitted 
to  intervene  between  the  soul  and  its  Maker.  The 
very  life  of  religion  depends  upon  free  and  unre- 
stricted intercourse  between  the  worshiper  and  his 
God. 

Just  as  the  prophets  had  introduced  the  most 
creative  epoch  in  the  thought  and  reHgion  of  Israel, 
so  the  teaching  and  example  of  Jesus  gave  rise  to 
another  and  greater  creative  epoch,  of  which  the 
writings  of  the  New  Testament  were  the  literary 
outcome  and  the  Christian  church  was  the  social 
expression.  Yet  mankind  seems  unable  to  remain 
for  long  on  the  highest  levels.  As  the  Jewish  people 
had  fallen  away  from  the  ideals  of  the  prophets, 
even  so  the  Christian  church  was  unable  to  main- 


The  Prophetic  Attitude  in  Religion  77 

tain  the  ideals  of  Jesus  and  the  apostles.  The 
thought  that  God  is  in  personal  touch  with  each 
individual,  and  that  to  each  and  every  one  may 
come  inspiration  and  instruction  direct  from  God 
himself,  apart  from  the  mediation  of  any  priesthood 
or  any  written  revelation,  was  too  lofty  and  spiritual 
an  ideal  to  find  a  permanent  home  in  the  minds  of 
men.  Mankind  is  always  seeking  for  some  kind 
of  visible,  external,  and  tangible  authority  to  which 
all  difficult  problems  may  be  referred  for  final 
settlement.  It  is  comparatively  easy  to  do  the 
right,  if  one  can  but  learn  from  some  authoritative 
source  just  what  is  right.  There  is  no  higher  or 
more  difficult  function  of  the  soul  than  that  of  the 
discovery  of  truth  and  right  for  itself.  In  estimating 
values  in  the  realm  of  morals  and  religion,  in  weigh- 
ing all  the  elements  in  an  ethical  or  spiritual  problem 
for  the  purpose  of  discovering  the  right  way  out,  is 
found  the  exercise  of  man's  noblest  powers.  This 
exercise  demands  and  develops  spiritual  insight  and 
discrimination,  self-sacrificing  devotion  to  truth  and 
righteousness,  and  patient  continuance  in  well- 
doing. Men  have  naturally  shrunk  from  this  hard 
task  and  have  sought  to  shift  the  burden  of  responsi- 
bility from  themselves  and  to  place  it  elsewhere. 
How  pathetically  eager  Christians  have  ever  been 
to  trade  this  their  God-given  birthright  for  a  mess 
of  pottage!  Instead  of  the  inestimable  privilege 
of  exercising  lordship  over  their  own  souls  in 
things  reHgious,  they  have  clamorously  insisted  upon 


78  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

taking  orders  from  others.  "Call  no  man  master/' 
says  the  gospel,  "for  one  is  your  master,  even 
Christ." 

Thus  it  came  about  within  a  comparatively  short 
time  after  the  days  of  the  apostles  that  the  authority 
which  rightly  belongs  to  each  individual  over  his 
own  beliefs  and  actions  was  gathered  up  and  trans- 
ferred to  the  church  as  an  organization.  The  decrees 
of  councils  took  the  place  of  conscience;  the  voice  of 
the  church  became  the  voice  of  God.  The  priest 
was  exalted  to  the  place  of  God  and  direct  access  to 
the  Father  was  denied  to  the  children.  This  tend- 
ency found  its  logical  goal  in  the  doctrine  of  the 
infallibility  of  the  pope  and  today  the  vast  majority 
of  Christendom  looks  to  him,  the  visible  "head  of 
the  church,''  for  the  final  statement  of  the  will  of  the 
invisible  God. 

Because  of  the  manifest  corruption  and  glaring 
wickedness  of  the  priestly  hierarchy  and  the  popes 
of  the  mediaeval  church,  here  and  there  men  of 
spiritual  insight  and  power,  like  Wycliffe,  John 
Huss,  and  Luther,  broke  away  from  the  church  and 
the  tradition  of  its  authority  over  the  soul  of  the 
individual.  As  a  result  of  their  courage  and  inde- 
pendence, we  have  the  great  Protestant  movement 
and  the  doctrine  of  the  priesthood  of  all  believers. 
But  the  Protestant  reform  after  all,  in  a  certain 
sense,  brought  about  only  a  change  of  masters.  It 
substituted  a  book  for  a  man.  The  authority  and 
infallibility  of  the  church  and  the  pope  gave  place  to 


The  Prophetic  Attittide  in  Religion  79 

the  authority  and  infallibility  of  the  Bible.  In  so 
far  as  this  has  resulted  in  increased  attention  to,  and 
appreciation  of,  the  Scriptures  it  has  been  of  course 
a  blessing  of  inestimable  value.  The  Bible  is  the 
record  of  the  richest  religious  experience  of  all  time. 
It  tells  us  what  the  most  spiritually  minded  of  all 
men  have  thought  about  God  and  duty.  It  furnishes 
inspiration  and  counsel  in  the  constant  warfare 
against  sin  and  the  imperative  struggle  toward 
righteousness.  It  is  an  unfailing  source  of  light 
and  leading.  But  its  very  strength  is  at  the  same 
time  a  source  of  danger.  Its  supreme  value  easily 
leads  us  to  assign  to  it  an  undue  emphasis  in  our 
thought.  We  come  to  look  upon  it  as  the  full  and 
final  revelation  of  God  unto  his  world  and  his  church. 
We  stop  short  with  the  Bible,  forgetting  that  the 
proper  function  of  the  Bible  is  to  lead  us  to  God.  It 
should  teach  us  to  keep  our  spiritual  eyes  open  and 
our  ears  unstopped,  that  like  the  prophets  of  old  we 
may  be  constantly  on  the  alert  for  every  manifesta- 
tion of  God  through  whatever  channel  he  may 
reveal  himself.  I  would  not  minimize  the  place  of 
the  Bible  in  the  enrichment  of  thought  and  upbuild- 
ing of  character;  I  would  rather  magnify  the  neces- 
sity of  reproducing  in  our  own  experience  the 
prophetic  thought  of  the  nearness  of  God  and  the 
prophetic  attitude  toward  God's  constant  revelation 
of  himself.  Without  these,  the  Bible  never  could 
have  been  produced;  with  these,  all  things  are 
possible  unto  us. 


8o  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

Signs  are  not  wanting  of  a  return  on  the  part  of 
the  present  age  toward  the  prophetic  attitude  in 
religion.  Among  these,  three  are  of  especial  sig- 
nificance. The  first  of  them  is  a  certain  unmis- 
takable restlessness  under  authority  in  the  realm 
of  spiritual  things.  Names  and  labels  no  longer 
carry  much  weight  with  us.  Every  candidate  for 
admission  into  the  circle  of  our  reHgious  and  moral 
convictions  must  present  credentials  that  satisfy 
the  demands  of  our  reason  and  of  our  moral  and 
spiritual  natures.  It  is  not  enough  for  us  to  know 
that  the  applicant  brings  with  him  the  indorsement 
of  previous  generations.  Tradition  and  antiquity 
are  not  enough.  Insurgency  is  in  the  air.  Progress 
is  our  watchword.  Old  institutions  and  old  ideas 
must  submit  themselves  to  the  most  thorough- 
going investigation,  if  they  wish  to  command  our 
respect  and  allegiance.  Science,  philosophy,  medi- 
cine, politics,  law,  and  business  are  all  being  made 
over  in  these  days.  New  methods  and  points  of 
view  obtain  in  every  department  of  human  interest. 
We  live  in  a  new  world.  Old  things  have  passed 
away,  in  so  far  as  they  had  nothing  more  than  age 
to  recommend  them.  Religion  cannot  hope  and 
should  not  desire  to  escape  the  influence  of  the 
same  spirit  of  independence.  It  has  everything  to 
gain  and  nothing  to  lose  by  throwing  open  all  the 
doors  for  a  full  and  free  investigation  of  its  tradi- 
tions. It  is  the  part  of  true  religion  to  encourage 
every  kind  of  honest  inquiry.     The  exposure  of 


The  Prophetic  AUiticde  in  Religion  8i 

error  is  fatal  to  ignorance  and  superstition,  but 
religion  becomes  the  more  vigorous  the  purer  the 
atmosphere  in  which  it  develops.  The  search  for 
truth  is  the  search  for  God.  The  old  formulas  do 
not  and  cannot  contain  all  the  truth.  God  has  yet 
more  truth  to  break  forth  from  his  word  and  from  his 
world.  His  revelation  of  himself  to  mankind  can 
never  be  complete  until  man  has  reached  his  highest 
development.  The  progress  of  the  race  is  pain- 
fully slow  and  the  revelation  of  God  is  limited 
thereby.  There  is  constant  need  of  spiritual  pio- 
neers, men  of  truly  prophetic  insight  and  passion,  to 
discern  and  justify  the  ways  of  God  to  men.  New 
and  tremendous  problems  are  pressing  for  solution. 
The  old  answers  no  longer  suffice.  Who  will  show 
us  the  new  way?  Where  is  the  modern  prophet? 
"Would  God  that  all  the  Lord's  people  were 
prophets!" 

Another  evidence  that  a  prophetic  spirit  is 
stirring  in  the  land  is  to  be  seen  in  the  rise  of  a  new 
ethical  sense  in  the  present  day.  The  great  glory 
of  the  prophets  of  Israel  was  their  passion  for  right- 
eousness. Along  this  line  were  their  greatest  ad- 
vances made.  As  the  pohtical  power  of  Israel 
dwindled,  their  conception  of  God  became  broader. 
Just  when  his  people  were  in  danger  of  ceasing  to 
exist,  the  prophets  presented  him  as  the  God  of  the 
world.  This  achievement  was  possible  for  them 
because  they  persisted  in  thinking  of  Jehovah,  not 
as  the  God  of  Israel  merely,  but  as  the  God  of 


82  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

righteousness;  and  righteousness  knows  no  national 
limitations.  In  like  manner,  all  their  approach  to 
truth  was  along  moral  lines.  Their  triumphs  in 
this  sphere  were  not  those  of  the  speculative,  meta- 
physical philosopher.  They  were  victories  of  the 
heart  rather  than  of  the  brain.  In  the  expanding 
social  order  of  their  times,  as  the  commercial  and 
social  life  became  more  and  more  complex  and  elabo- 
rate, the  old  laws  and  customs  were  proving  inade- 
quate. The  poor  were  rapidly  becoming  poorer 
and  the  rich  richer.  The  cry  of  the  oppressed 
went  up  to  heaven.  The  prophets  appeared  as  the 
champions  of  the  poor,  and,  blazing  with  moral 
indignation,  they  denounced  the  avarice  and  cruelty 
of  the  rich.  They  preached  a  code  of  individual 
and  social  ethics  which  penetrated  far  deeper  than 
the  accepted  standards  of  their  day.  They  were 
looked  upon  as  impracticable  idealists,  subverters  of 
the  social  order.  But  their  ideals  have  set  the  stand- 
ard for  all  succeeding  ages.  Thinking  men  in  every 
department  of  the  life  of  this  modern  world  are 
keenly  conscious  of  the  need  of  a  similar  work. 
The  standard  of  individual  morals  must  not  only  be 
lifted  to  a  higher  level,  but  that  standard  must  be 
sociaHzed.  The  yawning  gap  between  personal 
morality  on  the  one  hand  and  business  and  political 
morality  on  the  other  must  be  bridged  over.  The 
moral  sense  of  the  day  protests  against  the  exploita- 
tion of  the  many  for  the  enrichment  of  the  few. 
"Have  we  not  all  one  father?    Hath  not  one  God 


The  Prophetic  AUittide  in  Religion  83 

created  us?  Why  do  we  deal  treacherously  every 
man  against  his  brother  ?  "  On  this  platform  a  new 
race  of  prophets  is  arising,  passionate  pleaders  for 
social  righteousness.  May  they  not,  like  the 
prophets  of  old,  find  us  a  people  who  hear  indeed, 
but  understand  not;  and  see  indeed,  but  perceive 
not;  whose  hearts  are  fat  and  their  ears  heavy  and 
their  eyes  shut.  Let  us  remember  that  not  the  wise, 
nor  the  mighty,  but "  the  pure  in  heart  shall  see  God." 
The  third  proof  that  our  age  is  characterized 
by  something  of  the  prophetic  spirit  is  furnished  by 
the  modern  emphasis  upon  the  thought  of  the  in- 
dwelling God.  We  can  no  longer  think  of  him  as 
outside  and  apart  from  his  world.  We  can  no  longer 
look  for  the  evidence  of  God's  interest  in,  and  care 
for,  his  world  to  miraculous  and  abnormal  phenomena 
in  the  realms  of  nature  and  history,  nor  think  of 
God  as  in  any  way  breaking  in  upon  the  order  of 
the  universe.  Science,  psychology,  philosophy,  and 
historical  criticism  have  reduced  the  element  of  the 
supranatural  to  the  vanishing-point.  He  who  would 
stake  his  faith  in  God  upon  phenomena  of  this  kind 
finds  his  God  confined  to  an  ever-narrowing  circle 
of  influence.  Such  a  one  attempting  to  check  the 
progress  of  modern  thought  in  this  direction  is 
pledged  to  a  forlorn  hope.  He  who  cannot  find 
God  in  all  the  phenomena  of  life  is  in  constant 
danger  of  losing  his  God.  The  thought  of  the 
present  age  concerning  God  is  rather  that  of  his 
presence  in  and  through  all  of  his  universe.     He  is 


84  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

the  indwelling  personality  who  gives  direction  and 
meaning  to  it  all. 

Earth's  crammed  with  heaven, 

And  every  coramon  bush  afire  with  God, 

But  only  he  who  sees  takes  off  his  shoes. 

God  is  in  us;  he  is  life  of  our  life  and  spirit  of  our 
spirit.  He  permeates  every  fiber  of  our  being. 
"In  him  we  live  and  move  and  have  our  being;  for 
we  are  also  his  offspring."  He  is  our  spiritual 
atmosphere;  he  is  our  strength  and  stay.  Without 
him  we  can  do  nothing. 

When  this  sense  of  God's  nearness  to  us  and  of 
our  nearness  to  him  takes  hold  of  us  as  it  did  of  the 
prophets  of  old;  when  their  passion  for  social 
righteousness  gets  into  our  blood;  when  their 
attitude  of  expectancy  and  hospitaUty  toward  new 
truth  becomes  ours,  then  may  we  too  become 
prophets.  Never  was  the  need  of  God-filled  men 
greater  than  it  is  today.  Never  was  the  task 
of  interpreting  the  world  in  terms  of  God  more 
difficult  or  more  fascinating  than  it  is  today.  Never 
was  God  more  ready  to  declare  his  will  unto  his 
servants  than  he  is  today.  We  may  not,  indeed, 
call  the  prophets  again  from  the  dead;  nor  may 
we  seek  to  reproduce  their  methods  and  manners  in 
our  own  age.  They  have  "had  their  day  and  ceased 
to  be."  But  their  spirit  abides  and  will  take  unto 
itself  new  forms  and  agencies.  It  is  ours  to  let  that 
spirit  take  complete  possession  of  our  souls  and 
work  in  and  through  us  the  will  of  God. 


The  Prophetic  Attitude  in  Religion  85 

PRAYER 

Almighty  God,  Father  of  our  spirits y  we  thank 
thee  for  the  sacred  privilege  of  fellowship  with  thyself. 
We  pray  thee,  fit  us  for  more  perfect  sympathy  with 
thy  purposes;  pardon  our  infirmities  and  purge  away 
our  sins;  cleanse  us  and  keep  us  clean.  Make  us 
more  worthy  of  the  high  calling  wherewith  we  are 
called  as  sons  of  God.  Help  us  to  take  up  the  un- 
finished tasks  of  those  who  have  gone  before  us.  Give 
unto  us  courage  and  joy  in  the  doing  of  the  world^s 
work  and  help  us  to  glorify  it  all  in  the  thought 
that  we  are  fellow-workers  with  thee.  Thou  lover  of 
men,  open  our  hearts  to  the  incoming  of  every  noble 
impulse  and  high  motive  and  send  us  forth  as  bearers 
of  the  gospel  of  helpfulness  and  love.  Make  us  willing 
to  spend  and  be  spent  in  the  service  of  thy  Kingdom, 
after  the  manner  of  him  who  came  not  to  be  ministered 
unto,  but  to  minister  and  to  give  his  life  a  ransom  for 
many.  Strengthen  our  faith  in  men  and  our  trust  in 
thyself,  granting  us  the  never-failing  assurance  that 
our  labor  is  not  in  vain  in  the  Lord.  These  petitions 
and  those  things  which  for  our  unworthiness  we  dare 
not,  and  for  our  blindness  we  cannot,  ask,  vouchsafe 
to  grant  unto  us  out  of  thine  own  unchanging  mercy 
and  unceasing  love.    Amen. 


THE  TEST  OF  RELIGION 

BY 

JAMES  HAYDEN  TUFTS 


THE  TEST  OF  RELIGION 

Unto  thee,  O  Lord,  do  I  lift  up  my  soul, 
O,  my  God,  in  thee  have  I  trusted, 
Let  me  not  be  put  to  shame. 

(Ps.  25:1,  2.) 

Ever  since  man's  intelligence  has  lifted  him  to 
a  life  of  imagination  and  thought,  as  well  as  of 
sense  and  feeling,  the  struggle  for  existence  has 
taken  on  for  him  a  larger  significance  than  it 
has  for  the  brute.  He  does  not  adapt  himself 
so  passively  to  nature;  he  is  in  a  sense  "nature's 
insurgent  son."  He  fashions  his  actions  in  some 
degree  by  ideas  of  past  or  future.  He  summons  to 
his  aid  not  only  the  co-operation  of  his  kin,  but 
the  protection  of  the  very  forces  that  oppose  him. 
With  magic  and  ritual,  with  sacrifice  and  prayer, 
he  compels  or  entreats.  He  enters  into  sympathy 
and  co-operation  with  the  unseen.  He  lifts  up 
his  soul.  He  trusts  in  a  Helper.  He  seeks  salva- 
tion. He  would  in  some  sense  overcome  the 
world.  But  while  the  persistent  effort  remains, 
the  sort  of  salvation  he  needs  and  the  sort  of 
co-operation  he  would  gain  vary  with  the  man's 
ideal.  The  test  he  applies  will  vary  likewise.  To 
appreciate  what  may  be  called  the  modern  test  we 
may  contrast  it  with  some  of  the  earlier  tests  man 
has  proposed. 

89 


go  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 


I.  The  earliest  need  man  felt  was  naturally  that 
for  food  and  shelter,  for  protection  against  foes  of 
famine  and  pestilence,  darkness  and  storm,  or  the 
often  more  pressing  enemies  of  hostile  tribes. 

What,  under  these  conditions,  was  the  test  of 
rehgion?  The  religion  that  brought  victory  over 
enemies,  that  brought  health,  that  gave  good  luck 
in  the  hunt  or  sent  the  rains  that  made  the  land 
yield  her  increase,  that  guarded  from  the  pestilence 
in  darkness  or  the  destruction  at  noonday — this  was 
the  religion  man  craved  in  early  time.  Greek  or 
Semite,  American  Indian  or  Australian  black  tested 
his  religion  by  its  ability  to  give  such  help.  The 
god  that  answereth  by  fire,  he  is  the  god;  the  Lord 
of  Hosts  is  the  helper.  And  the  test  works  both 
ways:  the  man  who  prospers  in  all  these  ways  is 
sure  that  the  Lord  is  with  him.  Success  is  the  test 
of  piety  and  faith;  calamity  or  defeat  is  evidence  of 
sin,  or  of  failure  to  unite  forces  with  God. 

But  in  time  man  came  to  feel  new  needs.  The 
old  tests  no  longer  satisfied.  New  kinds  of  conflict 
arose  which  the  older  religion  could  not  put  to  rest. 
Out  of  the  stress  and  anguish  of  these  crises  came  a 
vision  of  a  higher  world  than  man  had  known  before. 
To  enter  this  new  world  a  new  religion  was  needed. 
A  far  subtler  conception  of  salvation  made  its  way 
into  human  consciousness.  A  new  kind  of  aid  was 
required.  New  tests  replaced  the  old.  The  older 
and  simpler  religion  broke  down  at  two  points: 


The  Test  of  Religion  91 

It  broke  down  as  a  means  of  getting  nature's 
aid  or  as  a  protection  against  the  dangers  from  nature 
and  man.  It  did  not  give  the  worshiper  sure  har- 
vests or  safe  voyages.  The  flight  of  birds  or  the 
freshly  opened  bodies  of  victims  failed  to  inspire  con- 
fidence as  revelation  of  God's  will.  Asshur  did  not 
protect  Nineveh,  nor  Bel  Babylon,  nor  Jehovah 
Jerusalem,  nor  Athena  Athens.  And  finally  the 
Eternal  City  of  Mars,  of  Jove,  and  of  all  the  pantheon 
was  sacked. 

And  on  the  other  hand,  the  man  who  sought 
to  follow  the  guidance  of  right  in  his  relations  to  his 
fellows — he  likewise  might  fail  to  gain  the  blessing 
of  God.  Though  he  gave  his  bread  to  the  father- 
less and  upheld  justice  in  the  gate  he  might  perish. 
Which,  then,  should  he  trust,  conscience  or  reli- 
gion? In  such  a  crisis  many  would  stand  by  the 
older  view  of  religion  and  go  after  any  who  promised 
prosperity.  But  a  Job  would  hold  fast  to  his  integ- 
rity and  an  Amos  and  a  Hosea  would  find  a  new  reh- 
gion  which  put  justice  and  mercy  before  sacrifice. 

Out  of  the  collisions  and  wreckage  of  these  older 
forms  and  the  breakdown  of  the  earlier  tests  came 
gradually  higher  t3rpes  of  religion,  in  Europe  and  in 
Asia. 

2.  Corresponding  to  that  aspect  of  religion  which 
sought  to  control  nature  through  magic  or  mystic 
union,  there  emerged  the  methods  of  scientific 
thought.  Astronomy  began  to  guide  the  sailor, 
medicine   to   understand    and    sometimes    to   heal 


92  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

disease.  Mathematics  was  for  Plato  a  surer  path 
to  the  divine  than  the  religious  myth  of  the  poets. 
The  life  of  plants  and  animals,  the  practice  of  the 
creative  artisan  or  creative  poet  gave  Aristotle  his 
clue  to  the  nature  of  God;  and,  above  all,  the 
splendor  of  the  new  world  rose  into  man's  vision. 
The  universe  lay  open  to  him  who  had  the  key  of 
logical  method.  It  was  a  universe  of  order,  of  law, 
of  consistent  reason. 

For  more  than  a  thousand  years,  though  sub- 
merged from  time  to  time  by  waves  of  ignorance, 
this  seemed  to  many  of  the  choicest  minds  the  true 
realm  of  religion.  Reason  is  man's  diviner  life,  say 
Plato  and  Aristotle,  St.  Thomas  and  Spinoza.  In 
comparison  with  this,  the  life  of  sense  belongs  to  our 
animal  and  mortal  part.  Let  man  put  off  his  mor- 
tality and  find  God  in  the  immortal  and  changeless 
realm  of  thought.  Let  him  find  the  beatific  vision 
in  the  contemplative  life.  Let  him  view  all  things 
under  the  aspect  of  eternity.  Nor  can  we  forget 
the  eloquent  words  of  the  modern  expounder  of 
this  view: 

In  religion  we  withdraw  from  what  is  temporal — religion 
is  for  our  consciousness  that  region  in  which  all  the  enigmas 
of  the  world  are  solved,  all  the  contradictions  of  deeper- 
reaching  thought  have  their  meaning  unveiled,  and  where 
the  voice  of  the  heart's  pain  is  silenced — the  region  of  eternal 
truth,  of  eternal  rest,  of  eternal  peace. 

Religion  of  this  sort  finds  in  God  a  cause,  a  sub- 
stance, an  absolute.     It  seeks  to  view  all  things  from 


The  Test  of  Religion  93 

the  standpoint  of  eternity.     Its  test  is  that  of  logical 
consistency. 

3.  While  the  thinker  seeks  to  rise  above  the  world 
of  sense  on  wings  of  thought,  another  pilgrim  climbs 
step  by  step  a  stony  path  to  the  divine.  Not  the 
illusions  and  perplexities  of  the  universe,  but  the 
passions  and  lusts  within  the  soul,  vex  and  baffle 
him.  "  Satan  "  symbolizes  an  adversary  more  active 
and  dangerous  than  "Chaos.''  Persian,  Indian, 
Greek,  and  Christian  seek  helper  and  companion  in 
these  conflicts.  The  way  upward  is  steep,  but  it 
too,  no  less  than  the  soaring  flight  of  reason,  yields 
visions.  The  higher  world  of  God  lies  beyond,  and 
a  Paul  or  a  Saint  Bernard  catches  glimpses  of  its 
splendor.  For  such  a  religion  desires  and  passions, 
the  lust  of  the  flesh  and  the  pride  of  life,  are  the 
deadly  foes.  They  blind  the  vision;  they  fetter 
the  aspiring  soul;  they  shut  him  away  from  God. 
Only  by  freeing  himself  as  far  as  may  be  from  these 
can  he  enter  the  presence  of  the  pure  and  holy.  Fast 
and  vigil,  poverty,  chastity,  renunciation,  mortifica- 
tion of  the  body — these  form  the  via  crucis,  which 
is  the  via  lucis.  And  for  the  saint  of  this  type 
of  religion  the  test  will  be:  Have  I  completely 
escaped  the  vanities  and  deceptions  of  this 
sham  world  ?  Have  I  ceased  to  lust  and  to  will  ? 
Have  I  merged  and  hid  my  life  in  God,  and  does 
his  spirit  in  turn  give  me  victory  over  the  world 
of  the  flesh  and  of  desire?  This  is  the  ascetic's 
test. 


94  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

4.  But  beside  the  thinker  and  the  saint,  another 
type  of  man  sought  another  and  a  different  salva- 
tion. Man  early  learned  the  necessity  of  govern- 
ment and  law  if  he  were  to  rise  above  quarreling 
and  enjoy  life  and  peace.  But  power  is  often 
ruthless.  Greed  and  ambition  trample  on  laws. 
The  just  perish,  the  wicked  prosper.  The  seeker 
for  truth  is  condemned  in  Athens;  the  prophets  in 
Judea  are  stoned.  Superhuman  help  is  needed. 
Unless  there  is  some  divine  rule,  some  guiding  Provi- 
dence, some  just  judge  and  final  appeal,  wrong  tri- 
umphs over  right,  and  all  the  moral  conviction  is 
put  to  confusion.  The  political  and  legal  concep- 
tions of  religion  were  the  response  to  this  demand: 
God  is  the  true  sovereign  of  the  world.  He  is  the 
righteous  judge.  Religion  is  to  do  him  homage  and 
obey  his  rule.  And  in  place  of  the  earlier  cities  and 
empires  the  religion  of  John  and  of  Augustine  builds 
a  City  of  God,  a  Kingdom  of  Grace. 

Greek,  Roman,  and  Jewish  elements  found  their 
place  in  these  legal  and  political  conceptions  of  reli- 
gion. The  Greek  projected  an  ideal  city  with  little 
hope  that  it  would  rise  on  earth.  The  Roman 
thought  that  in  the  universal  principles  of  justice 
implanted  in  all  men  is  found  a  revelation  of  the 
divine  reason.  The  Jew  saw  in  God  not  merely  the 
ruler  of  Israel  but  the  sovereign  of  all  worlds.  But 
in  the  actual  fusion  of  these  elements  in  the  time  of 
savage  and  barbarous  men  it  was  criminal  justice 
which  became  the  determining  factor.     God  was  the 


The  Test  of  Religion  95 

almighty  judge;  man  was  a  rebel.  Religion  was  re- 
pentance and  submission.  Salvation  was  escape 
from  wrath  to  come.  The  test  of  religion  was:  Can 
it  take  from  me  the  fear  of  punishment,  and  give 
me  instead  the  assurance  of  a  forgiving  grace  ?  This 
was  the  test  for  the  ages  of  Dante  and  of  Calvin. 

But  there  was  another  form  of  the  political  and 
social  ideal.  National  hopes  gave  rise  in  the  heroic 
souls  of  Israel's  seers  to  a  grander  vision  of  a  king- 
dom of  righteousness  not  limited  to  the  sons  of  Abra- 
ham. Yet  it  needed  the  complete  destruction  of 
the  earthly  Jerusalem  and  the  opposition  of  the 
little  group  of  Christian  disciples  alike  to  their  old 
countrymen  and  to  Roman  power  to  prepare  the 
way  for  a  union  and  co-operation  of  man  and  his 
fellows  for  a  purely  spiritual  end.  The  older  faiths 
had  been  national.  The  essentially  new  in  the  idea 
of  the  church  was  that  it  represented  unity  of  man 
with  man  in  God.  And  when  Augustine  saw  the 
Roman  imperial  power  disintegrate  he  hailed  the 
coming  City  of  God  as  the  destined  end  of  creation. 
The  church  became  the  earthly  way  of  entrance  to 
this  city.  Its  universal  catholic  sway  embraced  the 
faithful.  The  test  of  religion  for  the  individual  be- 
came obedience  to  its  rule.  The  test  the  anxious 
soul  propounded  was :  Have  I  been  blessed  through 
its  sacraments,  absolved  through  its  divine  commis- 
sion, included  in  its  saving  fold  ? 

5.  When  the  modern  world  came  in,  religion, 
like  other  forms  of  human  experience,  took  a  more 


g6  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

individual  and  personal  attitude.  Personal  account- 
ability to  God,  personal  faith,  personal  salvation, 
personal  regeneration  and  penitence,  an  inner  light 
within  the  soul — these  became  notes  of  true  reli- 
gion. With  most  men  there  was  no  intellectual 
question  as  to  the  existence  and  sovereignty  of  God. 
The  question  was  rather  as  to  man's  own  conscious 
attitude  toward  his  creator,  lawgiver,  judge,  and 
redeemer.  The  cry  of  the  Psalmist,  "Let  me  not 
be  put  to  shame,"  as  it  was  repeated  by  our  fathers, 
sprang  from  fear  that  they  might  be  put  to  shame 
because  of  their  own  deceitful  hearts. 

As  we  read  the  writings  of  Edwards  and  his  fol- 
lowers or  of  Wesley  and  his  school  we  can  but  appre- 
ciate the  fervor  and  intensity  of  feeling  which  dwelt 
within  them.  It  offers  a  parallel  to  the  emphasis 
laid  upon  the  affections  by  the  "moral  sense"  school 
of  contemporary  ethical  writers.  It  was  perhaps 
favored  by  special  external  conditions  which  turned 
the  spirit  within  upon  itseK.  Although  the  Cal- 
vinists  conceived  God  primarily  as  governor  of  the 
universe — of  a  universe,  moreover,  in  which  the  great 
majority  of  men  were  through  another's  act  in 
hopeless  enmity,  and  under  certain  condemnation 
to  endless  misery — they  none  the  less  looked  for  a 
type  of  affection  appropriate  to  personal  relations. 
If  the  object  of  affection  was  the  divine-human 
Savior  there  might  be  an  even  more  vivid  imagery 
and  emotion.  In  their  fear  of  an  external  religion 
of  works,  or  a  selfish  religion  of  gain,  men  of  spiritual 


The  Test  of  Religion  97 

temper  sought  in  the  "exercises/'  or  "taste,"  or 
"experience''  of  the  individual  soul  the  supreme  test 
of  the  work  of  God  within. 

But  in  the  effort  to  make  religion  inward  there 
was  often  a  tendency  to  read  inner  experience  in 
terms  of  emotion.  Love  to  God — love  disinterested, 
self-forgetting,  and  utter — was  demanded,  and  was 
often  tested  by  "warmth"  or  "coldness"  of  heart. 
Repentance  was  evidenced  by  the  depth  of  depres- 
sion under  conviction  of  sin.  Regeneration  was 
known  by  the  joy  with  which  the  heart  responded  to 
a  new  hope. 

6.  But  the  emotional  was  not  the  only  test  offered 
by  the  individual  movement.  The  type  we  have 
just  considered  centered  its  experience  about  con- 
ceptions of  a  sovereign  God,  a  broken  law,  a  divine 
redeemer,  and  found  in  man's  own  heart  no  element 
of  good  save  as  almighty  grace  overcame  all  natural 
depravity.  A  deeper  insight  into  the  very  essence 
of  moral  experience  disclosed  a  factor  overlooked. 
"The  word  that  I  bring  thee  this  day,"  we  may 
read  Kant's  message,  "is  not  far  off.  It  is  not 
in  heaven,  nor  beyond  the  sea.  It  is  very  nigh  thee. 
The  voice  of  duty  is  in  the  heart.  Its  authority  is 
first  of  all  there,  or  it  is  nowhere."  And  if  the  very 
essence  of  "I  ought"  is  that  I  command  myself,  this 
lifts  man  above  himself.  It  shows  him,  in  spite  of 
all  his  selfishness,  as  belonging  to  another  world. 
He  himself  is  sovereign  as  well  as  subject.  He  has 
found  a  surer  sign  than  hitherto  for  the  confidence 


gS  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

that  he  need  not  be  ashamed  in  his  trust.  Kant 
himself  did  not  give  to  his  interpretation  of  rehgion 
the  full  breadth  of  the  horizon  which  he  had  thus 
disclosed.  But  in  the  principle  which  he  estab- 
lished lay  the  promise  of  religious  faith. 

II 

What  now  shall  we  say  is  the  modern  test  of 
religion  ? 

I  confess  that  when  I  began  to  write  I  had  in 
mind  to  point  out  chiefly  why  these  older  tests  had 
failed — to  show  that  for  us  of  the  modern  world, 
religion  is  not  tested  without  by  miracle  nor  within 
by  emotion,  nor  even  by  the  intellectual  method  of 
logical  consistency.  But  as  I  reflected  upon  what 
each  of  the  successive  tests  had  meant  to  the  men 
of  faith  who  framed  them,  I  thought  I  saw  in  each  a 
truth  as  well  as  a  defect.  And  I  believe  it  is  possible 
for  us  to  shape  our  test,  not  so  much  by  setting 
aside  these  others,  as  by  recognizing  what  each 
aimed  at  and  in  what  respect  it  failed.  Then  per- 
haps we  can  add  what  our  day  may  make  as  its 
contribution  to  the  common  work  of  those  who  have 
walked  by  faith. 

The  evident  trend  of  all  man's  religion  has  been 
to  come  into  a  larger  world;  to  find  in  the  Great 
Companion  sympathy  and  support  for  aspirations 
and  hopes;  to  overcome  evil;  to  make  good  and 
justice  prevail.  Let  us  then  see  how  each  of  the 
tests  we  have  noticed  records  some  effort. 


The  Test  of  Religion  99 

And  first  in  miracle.  This  seems  to  us  an  impos- 
sible way  to  test  the  spiritual.  That  sun  should 
stand  still  or  dead  should  rise,  or  lightning  flash  on 
the  right,  would  be  but  physical  fact  to  be  explained 
as  such.  It  would  tell  nothing  of  moral  character. 
But  to  early  man  it  did  mean  at  least  that  nature 
was  in  some  sense  his  friend.  It  responded  somehow 
to  his  prayer.  It  behaved  as  he  would  himself  be- 
have. But  it  was  a  crude  and  limited  conception 
of  the  spiritual  world  which  was  thus  suggested. 
And  the  Great  Teacher  sighed  deeply  in  his  spirit 
when  men  sought  of  him  a  sign  from  heaven.  "An 
evil  and  adulterous  generation  seeketh  after  a 
sign.''  "If  they  hear  not  Moses  and  the  prophets, 
neither  will  they  be  persuaded  if  one  rise  from  the 
dead." 

We  turn  then  from  the  test  of  miracle  to  its 
farthest  extreme,  the  test  of  knowledge.  And  it  is 
not  hard  for  us  moderns  to  appreciate  its  profound 
significance.  To  search  for  causes,  to  organize  all 
nature's  variety  into  classes  and  finally  into  one 
comprehensive  system,  to  bring  all  scattered  events 
under  universal  law  and  banish  contradictions — 
all  this  was  indeed  to  open  a  new  vision  of  the  uni- 
verse. The  faculty  which  so  manifests  its  power  may 
well  seem  man's  most  divine  prerogative.  To  think 
God's  thoughts  after  him  is  to  enter  into  union  with 
the  divine.  In  knowledge  man  finds  the  control 
over  nature  and  the  support  he  needs.  The  fatal 
defect  in  the  test  as  it  was  appUed  by  scholasticism 


loo  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

was  the  method  of  knowledge  it  pursued.  It 
mistook  the  scaffolding  for  the  temple,  the  tele- 
scope for  the  heavens.  The  principles  of  causation, 
of  unity,  of  consistency,  or,  in  modern  days,  of 
evolution,  are  the  clues  with  which  we  explore;  but 
no  analysis  of  definitions  of  First  Cause,  of  Pure 
Being,  of  Absolute,  of  Evolution,  will  take  the  place 
of  exploration.  It  is  in  observation,  experiment,  and 
reflection  combined  that  we  of  today  believe  we 
enter  into  the  kingdom  of  knowledge,  and  therefore 
of  co-operation  with  the  world  of  nature  and  of 
man.  ReHgion  cannot  afford  to  drop  this  test. 
Rather  it  needs  to  carry  it  farther,  and  by  more 
careful  penetration  into  just  the  religious  life  of  man 
to  give  due  weight  to  the  most  important  facts  of 
human  life.  It  is  not  hard  to  explain  why  religion 
at  first  sought  God  in  the  heavens,  and  watched  with 
jealous  eye  the  progress  of  astronomy  or  geology 
or  biology;  the  time  has  now  come  when  we  are 
searching  also  the  mind  of  man. 

I  need  not  dwell  long  upon  the  ascetic  and  mystic 
tests.  We  do  not  enter  the  hermit's  cell  nor  seek  the 
beatific  vision  through  cutting  off  all  desire  and  will. 
And  yet  the  lusts  and  passions  war  against  the  soul 
and  he  that  would  live  the  life  of  the  spirit  must 
make  them  its  subjects,  not  its  master.  This  test 
persists  until  the  ape  and  tiger  die. 

Is  then  the  test  of  religion  to  be  found  in  the 
legal  conceptions  of  atonement,  forgiveness,  and 
salvation  from  punishment  ? 


The  Test  of  Religion  loi 

No  one  who  ponders  human  Kfe  will  deny  the 
consciousness  of  guilt,  or  fail  to  see  how  this  con- 
sciousness has  itself  helped  man  to  find  in  a  world  of 
justice  a  higher  development,  a  spiritual  life.  But 
the  older  conceptions  of  criminal  law,  born  as  they 
were  in  blood-revenge  and  sovereignty  of  force,  are 
not  the  justice  or  religion  for  today.  "The  very 
notion,''  says  William  James,  "that  this  glorious 
universe,  with  planets  and  winds,  and  laughing  sky 
and  ocean,  should  have  been  conceived  and  had  its 
beams  and  rafters  laid  in  technicalities  of  criminality 
is  incredible  to  our  modern  imagination.  It  weakens 
a  religion  to  hear  it  argued  upon  such  a  basis." 

If  it  be  true  of  law  that  her  seat  is  the  bosom  of 
God,  it  is  religion  to  seek  justice.  But  we  have  some- 
times forgotten  that,  like  other  institutions,  law  is  a 
mixture  of  higher  and  lower.  Our  justice  is  in  part 
the  divine  principles,  but  it  is  also  in  part  the  work 
of  barbarous  times  and  selfish  men.  It  embodies  class 
interests  and  vested  wrongs,  as  weU  as  fairness  and 
hard-won  rights.  The  sacredness  that  belongs  only 
to  the  one  is  sometimes  invoked  for  the  other.  Nor 
has  the  other  separation  been  less  fatal.  Because 
human  government  is  imperfect  and  human  politics 
corrupt,  the  religious  man  in  the  past  has  too  often 
kept  aloof.  The  most  hopeful  signs  of  our  day  to 
my  mind  are  on  the  one  hand  the  efforts  to  make 
law  and  government  more  responsive  to  all  the  ideal 
ends  of  man,  to  give  him  education  and  sympathetic 
care  as  well  as  to  guard  his  life  and  property,  and 


I02  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

on  the  other,  that  good  men  and  women  are  finding 
place  for  their  religion  in  political  life.  Perhaps 
never  before  in  the  twenty-five  centuries  since  the 
words  were  spoken  has  Micah's  first  test  for  religion 
seemed  so  vital,  ^'What  doth  the  Lord  require  of 
thee  but  to  do  justly  ?" 

And  lastly  we  may  consider  together  the  two 
remaining  tests  we  have  mentioned,  since  they  seem 
to  represent  opposing  views.  One  was  membership 
in  a  universal  corporate  body,  the  other  was  an  inner 
and  personal  experience.  This  latter  we  certainly 
shall  not  give  up.  The  whole  scientific  spirit  of  our 
day  urges  us  to  seek  what  is  real  and  vital  in  con- 
crete facts  of  some  experience,  rather  than  in  gen- 
eral concepts.  But  it  is  inadequate  to  seek  this  in 
emotion.  Emotion  may  well  be  the  moment  when 
higher  life  begins — ^when  the  older,  narrow  self  gives 
way,  and  one  enters  into  larger  reaches  of  life.  But 
it  is  only  a  partial  or  occasional  experience. 

Deeper  than  this  is  the  experience  of  conscience 
and  duty  as  the  ever-present  witness  within  the 
soul  of  its  sublimity,  as  the  constant  symbol  of  the 
actual  existence  of  moral  values,  as  the  evidence  of 
horizons  yet  unreached.  The  profoundest  and  most 
truly  religious  faith  is  the  faith  that  "right  makes 
might.''  It  is  through  this  witness  of  the  moral 
conviction  that  we  get  the  best  interpretation  of 
the  test  spoken  to  a  generation  not  yet  ready  to 
receive  it:  He  that  wills  to  do  God's  will  shall 
know. 


The  Test  of  Religion  103 

But  how  shall  one  be  sure  of  duty  ?  How  shall 
one  know  God's  will  ?  And  is  the  knowledge — the 
test — a  purely  subjective  one?  In  contrast  with 
this  there  was  a  great  principle  beneath  the  concep- 
tion of  the  church.  My  feelings,  your  struggles 
for  righteousness,  are  very  likely  to  go  wrong  if  you 
and  I  keep  separate  from  our  kind.  Above  all,  in 
the  hfe  of  the  spirit,  recent  science  emphasizes  that 
social  co-operation  is  necessary.  Religion  expresses 
the  fact  that  the  deepest  spiritual  nature  is  social. 
Where  two  or  three  are  met  the  divine  presence  is 
with  them.  The  test  of  membership  in  this  co- 
operative union  was  indeed  misapphed  when  it 
was  taken  as  a  substitute  for  the  others,  or  when  the 
special  ecclesiastical  organization,  built  as  it  was 
from  Roman  empire  and  oriental  magic  and  Gothic 
rites,  was  identified  with  the  spiritual  temple.  I 
am  not  here  to  argue  for  any  specific  form  of  ecclesi- 
asticism,  nor  as  to  whether  the  church  of  the  future 
shall  even  be  called  by  that  name.  But  the  test  of 
co-operation,  of  union  in  spiritual  sympathy  and 
purpose,  of  loyalty  to  the  cause  of  the  Kingdom  of 
God,  of  active  participation  in  the  efforts  to  make 
this  kingdom  come — this  is  a  modern  test. 

See!    In  the  rocks  of  the  world 
Marches  the  host  of  mankind, 
A  feeble  wavering  line. 

Factions  divide  them,  their  host 
Threatens  to  break,  to  dissolve. 
Ah,  keep,  keep  them  combined! 
Else,  of  the  myriads  who  fill 
That  army,  not  one  shall  arrive. 


I04  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

Only  under  the  inspiration  of  great  religious 
leaders  do  we  feel  our  need,  and  quicken  into  unity 
and  strength.     Only  thus  united  shall  our  march 

lead 

On,  to  the  bound  of  the  waste. 
On,  to  the  City  of  God. 


VI 

THE  REVIVAL  OF  IDEALISM 


BY 

ALLAN  HOBEN 


THE  REVIVAL  OF  IDEALISM 

Go  up  to  the  mountain,  and  bring  wood,  and  build  the  house; 
and  I  will  take  pleasure  in  it,  and  I  will  be  glorified,  saith  the 
Lord— (Hag.  i:8). 

Every  normal  person  has  at  some  time  cherished 
a  worthy  ideal.  It  may  have  been  flitting,  it  may 
have  been  but  for  a  moment  that  the  spirit  flamed 
white  with  divine  purpose  and  registered  its  high 
resolve.  But  in  the  flashlight  of  that  moment  a 
heavenly  image  was  stamped  upon  the  soul.  Over 
against  such  brief  experiences,  intermittent  and  all 
too  few,  we  have  the  steady  tug  of  materiahsm,  the 
monotony  and  humdrum  of  life's  dusty  march.  The 
morning  of  ideaHsm  is  followed  by  the  noon  of  prac- 
ticahty  and  the  evening  of  reminiscence.  Poetry- 
becomes  prose  and  then  anecdote.  Vision,  utiHty, 
retrospect — so  runs  life's  story. 

We  may  dispute  the  fact,  we  may  stamp  it  as  a 
libel,  we  may  cite  exceptions,  and  they  do  exist, 
but  our  hearts  confess  the  tendency.  They  know 
something  of  this  silent  tragedy,  of  forfeiture  to 
convenience,  of  drooping  banners  in  whose  folds 
high  mottoes  of  the  past  hide  their  faces  in  very 
shame.  Conformity,  averages,  practicality,  sub- 
sistence, custom,  and  a  horde  of  commonplace 
necessities  waylay  youthful  ideaHsm  which  must 
indeed  learn  the  manner  of  the  road  but  still  must 


ride,  and  ride  on  forever. 


107 


io8  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

You  recall  our  first  uncalculating  faith,  how  it 
came  all  hot  and  new  against  the  rigid  order  of  things 
to  seek  form,  reality,  habiliments;  and  how,  when  it 
got  clothed — if  clothed  it  ever  was — it  looked  like 
a  pitiable  half-surrender.  Something  was  left  out, 
something  was  changed;  or,  more  likely,  the  original 
impulse  so  beautiful  in  itself  simply  played  out. 
The  good  motive  so  often  becomes  blunted,  embit- 
tered, or  exhausted  that  time  and  again  we  need 
the  voice  of  God  to  quicken  and  reaffirm  the  spirit 
in  its  supreme  resolves,  its  rare  idealisms. 

Now  it  is  here  in  the  brief  sermon  notes  of  the 
prophet  Haggai  that  this  age-long  drama  of  the 
spirit's  struggle  is  set  forth  in  all  its  simple  grandeur. 
For  in  the  humble  story  of  the  rebuilding  of  the 
temple  one  may  discover  some  of  the  history  of  his 
own  soul  and  hear  again  the  rebuke  and  encourage- 
ment of  the  divine  voice. 

What  is  that  story  which  is  so  necessary  to  the 
understanding  of  the  prophet  and  to  the  revival  of 
our  old  ideals?  In  substance  this:  In  597  B.C. 
Nebuchadrezzar  besieged  Jerusalem,  plundered  the 
temple,  and  took  captive  some  ten  thousand  of  the 
best  people.  These  exiles  were  settled  as  colonists  in 
the  fertile  lands  on  the  banks  of  the  Chebar  in  Baby- 
lonia. Ezekiel,  their  priest  and  prophet,  shared 
their  fortunes  and  roundly  condemned  their  infidelity 
which  had  resulted  so  disastrously.  Under  the 
storm  of  his  righteous  condemnation  the  people 
bowed  in  penitence.     When  the  utter  overthrow 


The  Revival  of  Idealism  109 

of  Jerusalem  was  accomplished  in  586  there  joined 
them  in  humiliation  another  great  company  of 
fellow-exiles.  But  out  of  humiliation  comes  hope, 
out  of  the  storm  the  rainbow.  And  in  due  time 
the  prophet  spread  across  their  dark  sky  the  radi- 
ant promise  of  a  return  and  the  glorious  ideal  of 
a  temple  rebuilt  and  resounding  with  the  ancient 
praises  of  their  God. 

This  vision  fastened  itself  upon  the  devout 
Hebrew  heart,  it  alleviated  toil,  it  banished  de- 
spondency. While  they  waited  and  hoped  and 
prayed  with  wistful  faces  toward  Jerusalem  two 
generations  were  born,  and  they  that  had  come 
down  into  captivity  as  young  men  began  to  whiten 
with  age.  Time  and  again  was  the  story  told  and 
then  retold ;  and  the  former  glory  of  Zion  was  painted 
with  that  iridescence  which  fond  memory  always 
gives. 

When  would  the  deliverer  come?  When  would 
God  release  this  holy  purpose  that  it  might  hurl 
itself  into  accomplishment  ?  No  wonder  that  when 
the  magnanimous  conqueror  Cyrus  came  and  in 
539  issued  his  edict  of  release  to  such  as  wished  to 
return  and  rebuild  the  temple  he  was  heralded  as 
"the  anointed  of  God.'^  Such  an  opportunity, 
you  may  be  sure,  was  also  a  process  of  selection. 
It  called  out  to  this  glorious  enterprise  the  most 
ideahstic  and  unselfish  of  the  colony,  those  who  could 
not  live  by  bread  alone,  those  whose  souls  had  not 
been  satisfied  by  the  fat  of  the  land. 


no  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

One-sixth  of  the  people  arose  and  followed  the 
vision,  among  them  some  of  the  aged.  These  hoped 
once  again  to  behold  the  glory  of  God  as  they  had 
seen  it  in  the  sanctuary,  before  their  eyes  should 
close  in  death.  What  a  happy  band  of  pilgrims 
they  were!  And  at  nightfall  you  might  have  heard, 
perhaps,  their  pilgrim  songs  as  they  robbed  the 
journey  of  its  weariness  and  through  praise  gathered 
strength  out  of  the  unseen.  I  wonder  whether  they 
used  a  psalm  like  the  eighty-fourth! 

How  amiable  are  thy  tabernacles,  O  Lord  of  hosts! 
My  soul  longeth,  yea,  even  faint eth  for  the  courts  of 

the  Lord; 
My  heart  and  my  flesh  cry  out  unto  the  living  God. 
Yea,  the  sparrow  hath  found  her  an  house. 
And  the  swallow  a  nest  for  herself,  where  she  may  lay 

her  young; 
Even  thine  altars,  O  Lord  of  hosts. 
My  King  and  my  God. 
Blessed  are  they  that  dwell  in  thy  house: 
They  will  be  still  praising  thee. 

You  see  how  they  envied  the  little  birds  that 
nested  in  those  broken  altars. 

Blessed  is  the  man  whose  strength  is  in  thee; 

In  whose  heart  are  the  highways  to  Zion. 

Passing  through  the  valley  of  Weeping  they  make  it 

a  place  of  springs; 
Yea,  the  early  rain  covereth  it  with  blessings. 
They  go  from  strength  to  strength, 
Every  one  of  them  appeareth  before  God  in  Zion. 
O  Lord  God  of  hosts  hear  my  prayer: 
Give  ear,  O  God  of  Jacob. 


The  Revival  of  Idealism  iii 

Behold,  0  God,  our  shield. 

And  look  upon  the  face  of  thine  anointed. 

For  a  day  in  thy  courts  is  better  than  a  thousand. 

I  had  rather  be  a  doorkeeper  in  the  house  of  my  God 

Than  to  dwell  in  the  tents  of  wickedness. 

For  the  Lord  God  is  a  sun  and  a  shield: 

The  Lord  will  give  grace  and  glory: 

No  good  thing  will  he  withhold  from  them  that  walk 

uprightly. 
O  Lord  of  hosts, 
Blessed  is  the  man  that  trusteth  in  thee. 

With  such  music  in  their  hearts  they  came  at 
length  upon  the  gray  debris  and  wretched  squalor 
of  that  ancient  site.  With  a  right  good  will  did  they 
set  about  clearing  the  temple  area  and  assembling 
material  for  the  new  building.  In  due  time  the 
foundation  was  in,  or  at  least  outlined,  and  the  day 
came  for  laying  the  cornerstone.  It  was  to  them  a 
great  occasion  and  one  fuU  of  high  and  sacred  senti- 
ment. They  would  be  satisfied  with  no  less  a  liturgy 
than  the  great  antiphonal  service  of  Solomon's 
temple.  Bravely  did  they  lift  their  voices  in  the 
sacred  chant;  solemnly  and  with  heartfelt  meaning 
came  the  answering  response. 

Then  all  at  once  from  the  gray-bearded  group, 
whose  eyes  had  seen  and  whose  memories  had  re- 
tamed  a  greater  glory,  there  went  up  a  bitter  wail,  a 
dissonance  mingling  with  courageous  praise.  ''How 
have  we  seen  the  temple  and  how  do  we  see  it  now  ?  " 
they  moaned  aloud.  The  mean  proportions  of  the 
building  as  now  outlined  and  the  humble  quality  of 


112  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

even  their  best  material  were  only  disappointment 
over  against  the  towering  splendor  and  dazzling 
wealth  of  that  former  habitation  of  God.  T^e 
music,  you  see,  had  quickened  memory  and  brok.L^ 
up  the  fountains  of  emotion.  So  did  they  struggle 
together,  praise  and  pain,  as  they  always  do. 

Then  in  addition  to  this  note  of  discouragement 
from  within  came  the  opposition  of  the  Samaritans 
from  without.  For  the  very  purity  and  exclusive- 
ness  of  this  ideal  had  repulsed  and  offended  these 
would-be  helpers.  There  developed  also  embar- 
rassing intrigue  at  the  Persian  court:  an  attempt 
to  discredit  their  loyalty  in  the  eyes  of  their  bene- 
factor Cyrus.  No  wonder  that  at  the  end  of  two 
years  their  noble  impulse  was  spent  and  all  their 
hopes  lay  prone  upon  the  ground.  Apparently 
their  disillusion  was  complete. 

But  this,  let  us  bear  in  mind,  was  the  defeat  of 
the  best  souls  of  that  great  exile  colony.  The  five- 
sixths  remaining  on  that  fertile  Babylonian  soil 
knew  no  like  defeat;  they  more  nearly  compassed 
the  average  ambitions  of  their  average  lives.  They 
never  cried  out  from  some  dark  Machaerus,  "Art 
thou  he  that  should  come  or  do  we  look  for  another  ? '' 
Their  hopes  never  had  a  hero's  grave  in  Nebo  just 
outside  the  promised  land.  They  were  fat,  secure, 
"successful.'' 

But  caught  in  the  reaction  of  their  baffled  hope  our 
spiritual  heroes  retreated  to  the  thronged  and  easy 
highway  of  practicality.     "It  was  a  great  ideal," 


The  Revival  of  Idealism  113 

they  said,  "but  impossible;  a  dream  of  surpassing 
beauty,  but  still  a  dream.  Now  let  us  come  down 
to  ^reality.  Here  we  are,  and  here  are  our  wives 
-.np' children;  and  we  must  live.  We  must  have 
homes  while  we  till  this  land  round  about  Jerusa- 
lem. Subsistence  is  necessary,  ideahsm  is  optional." 
So  they  reasoned.  Consequently,  one  day,  when 
the  thrifty  Levi  met  his  intelligent  brother  Benja- 
min he  said:  "Good  brother,  to  what  purpose  do 
these  fine  cedars  of  Lebanon,  which  we  gathered  for 
that  impossible  project,  lie  out  in  the  wind  and 
weather  to  check  and  warp?  Personally  I  dis- 
like to  see  anything  wasted,  and  I  feel  a  bit  uneasy 
every  time  I  see  them  there.  Would  it  not  be 
wiser  to  divide  them  and  ceil  our  homes  against  the 
cold  ?  They  are  of  fine  grain  and  fragrant.  They 
will  adorn  our  homes  and  give  us  the  comfort 
and  satisfaction  to  which  we  surely  have  some 
right." 

This  policy  was  generally  approved,  and  their 
homes  were  inlaid  with  the  cedar  of  Lebanon.  Then 
they  settled  down  for  comfort  and  to  the  profitable 
work  of  farm  and  vineyard.  For  a  dozen  years 
they  tried  it.  But  always  there  was  something 
short  in  the  crops,  and  the  wine  did  not  quite  satisfy; 
and  when  a  man  and  his  wife  went  to  their  money 
bag  the  one  said  to  the  other,  "There  must  be  a  hole 
in  it!" 

Oh,  how  familiar  is  that  story;  and  who  of  us  is 
not  a  participant  in  it?    Who  but  the  God  and 


114  University  oj  Chicago  Sermons 

Father  of  our  spirits  knows  the  inutility  of  our 
misappropriations,  the  wretchedness  of  our  ease,  the 
emptiness  of  our  luxury,  the  ache  that  is  clothed 
in  velvet  and  fine  draperies,  the  bruised  wings  in 
the  golden  cage  of  practical  materialism  ? 

It  was  to  this  situation  that  the  prophet  came. 
I  think  it  was  in  the  autumn  of  the  year  520  B.C. 
The  great,  mysterious,  and  blessed  messenger  of 
God  knew  their  malady.  He  knew  the  hunger  of 
the  heart  for  a  cause,  a  something  that  makes  bread- 
winning  an  incident,  and  wealth  an  instrument,  and 
life  an  opportunity.  Yes,  he  knew,  and  he  saw 
those  walls  that  had  reached  up  a  little  way  from, 
the  earth  and  now  resembled  almost  the  very  ruins 
from  which  they  sought  to  rise. 

Seer  and  physician  that  he  was,  he  reached 
through  the  incrustations  of  a  dozen  years  of  vain 
comfort  and  laid  his  finger  upon  a  sensitive  spot. 
"What  is  this?^'  he  said.  They  winced,  and  with 
blanched  faces  answered  him  and  one  another,  "It  is 
the  old  ideal.''  You  see  it  was  there.  It  always  is — 
that  holy  vision  of  our  best  moments,  the  Amen 
of  the  soul  answering  ever  to  the  voice  of  God.  It 
is  disturbing,  but  eternal;  in  realization  far  off,  yet 
near  as  life  itself;  costly  beyond  measure,  yet 
the  sole  condition  that  makes  us  human,  lifts  us  from 
all-fours,  straightens  our  foreheads,  and  gives  us 
sonship  with  the  eternal  God. 

Yes,  you  know  it  costs,  this  struggle.  You  know 
by  now  that  the  way  is  longer  than  it  seemed,  and 


The  Revival  of  Idealism  115 

that  the  radiant  peaks  seen  in  the  pure  morning  air 
did  not  betray  the  vast  intervening  distance  nor 
the  ravines  that  lay  so  mercifully  hidden  in  the 
glorious  vista.  But  still  you  do  not  choose  other- 
wise, nor  belie  your  divine  lineage.  For  this  quest 
is  the  measure  of  life,  and  the  only  victory  worth 
having  is  the  victory  of  the  spirit,  the  bringing  of 
the  ideal  into  mastery  over  refractory  and  stubborn 
conditions. 

Here  is  a  young  woman  who  has  heard  the  call  of 
foreign  missions.  The  glowing  words  of  some  mis- 
sionary have  claimed  her  for  this  noble  task.  How 
beautiful  it  all  seems.  She  sees  herself  giving  to  the 
famished  and  dying  the  very  bread  of  life  for  which 
they  cry.  Thousands  of  faces  dark  and  almost 
blank  in  ignorance  and  superstition  light  up  in 
joyous  acceptance  of  her  story  of  the  Christ. 

At  last,  after  some  preparation,  much  devotion, 
enthusiastic  meetings,  and  impressive  partings,  she 
is  on  her  way.  But  the  foreign  shore  on  which  she 
lands  is  by  no  means  covered  with  expectant  listeners 
ready  to  be  transformed.  Her  winged  ideal  soon 
comes  to  its  test  in  barriers  of  language,  in  mis- 
conceptions both  hers  and  theirs,  in  the  slow  East, 
in  the  primary  demands  of  health,  employment, 
education,  friendship,  and  the  patient  demonstra- 
tion of  Christian  living.  After  a  long  time,  a  very 
long  time,  perhaps  there  is  a  convert.  Now  she 
begins  to  know  what  her  ideal  really  involves  and 
that  she  must  pay  the  toll  and  enter  the  kingdom  of 


ii6  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

reality  through  toil  and  sacrifice  or  turn  back,  a 
defeated  victim  of  her  own  imagination. 

So  of  the  lad  who  in  response  to  patriotism  enlists 
to  serve  his  country.  How  much  of  glamor  mingles 
with  his  choice  ?  Uniforms  and  music,  pictures  and 
parades;  and  the  call  to  fight  Spain  perhaps:  these 
are  large  factors;  and  he  almost  sees  himself  rushing 
to  the  cannon's  mouth  and  snatching  victory  from 
the  enemy.  Very  well,  he  enlists,  and  then  what 
does  he  do  ?  You  will  see  him  with  heavy  knapsack 
on  the  long  march,  or  digging  muddy  trenches  like 
a  laborer  of  the  street,  sleeping  on  hard  cots  and 
faring  poorly  on  ill-cooked  rations — what  a  round 
of  distasteful  and  inglorious  toil!  And  just  there  is 
the  test.  Will  his  patriotic  impulse  harness  itself 
to  the  necessary  toil  ?  Will  it  infuse  that  toil  with 
the  ideal,  which  was  half  ignorance,  and  will  it 
survive  ? 

So  of  those  early  dreams  of  ours,  when  we  thought 
how  beautiful  and  easy  it  would  be  to  run  our  future 
business  on  the  Golden-Rule  basis.  That  was  before 
we  knew  the  fierce  competition  of  the  commercial 
world,  before  we  stood  in  the  arena  with  families 
depending  upon  us  and  old  age  or  sickness  lying  in 
wait  in  the  thicket  of  the  near-by  years.  Or  it  was 
the  practice  of  law  that  we  idealized  as  the  disin- 
terested search  for  justice,  or  medicine  as  a  generous 
philanthropy,  or  the  ministry  as  the  free  expression 
of  religious  conviction,  or  all  labor  as  a  sweet  incense 
offered  unto  God.     Do  you  not  remember?    And 


The  Revival  of  Idealism  117 

have  you  not  turned  fiercely  upon  the  sphinx-like 
reality  of  life  as  it  really  is  and  called  it  a  humbug, 
a  great  grim  humbug  ?  For  the  world  is  gray  and 
practical  and  life  is  very  baffling  in  its  complexity. 
The  ideal  is  bruised  and  altered  in  the  conflict.  Nay, 
at  times  have  we  not  abandoned  our  ideals  as  foolish 
and  sought  the  shelter  of  our  ceiled  houses  ?  What 
do  we  need  but  the  voice  of  the  prophet  to  tell  us 
once  again  the  thing  that  we  know;  to  rekindle,  it 
may  be,  the  high  ideal  of  home  that  has  been  worn 
down  by  toil  and  care  and  has  seen  its  romance 
fading  into  apathy  ? 

To  be  sure,  the  task  is  harder  than  we  at  first 
think,  and  the  validity  of  an  ideal  is  measured  by  its 
resurrection  power.  Let  us  then  who  begin  to  feel 
the  weight  of  fife  with  its  middle  age  of  compromise, 
and  its  deadening  level  of  average  accomplishment, 
let  us  go  back  to  that  best  experience  in  which  God 
surely  spoke  and  let  us  take  up  again  with  grateful 
hands  and  with  riper  judgment  the  old  ideal,  and  so 
finish  our  temple. 

But  you  will  notice  that  the  discouragement  of 
these  ardent  souls  came  partly  from  the  overtowering 
form  of  a  better  than  their  best.  The  shadow  of 
Solomon's  temple  obscured  their  poor  endeavor;  and 
for  the  ideahst  this  experience  is  very  hard  to  bear. 
By  his  very  nature  he  must  excel.  "The  best  or 
nothing,"  is  his  cry.  To  be  outmatched  wiU  tempt 
him  to  abandon  all.  And  here  again  we  need  the 
prophet  who  teUs  us  that  the  choice  was  not  between 


ii8  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

Solomon's  temple  and  theirs,  but  between  theirs 
and  none;  to  tell  us  that  life  is  not  a  straight- 
away competitive  race  with  one  winning  and  all  the 
rest  behind,  but  a  relay  race  against  time,  and  for 
every  man  his  lap.  Paul  finishes  his  course  and 
Augustine  his,  Luther  and  Gordon  and  Shaftesbury 
theirs,  and  each  of  us  ours.  There  is  no  flat  compe- 
tition; rather  the  best  that  has  been  calls  to  the 
best  in  us.  I  will  take  pleasure  in  it,  and  I  will  be 
glorified,  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts. 

Here  is  a  young  woman  who  has  been  mastering 
the  piano.  To  some  native  ability  she  has  added 
faithful  effort,  and  she  begins  to  think  that  she  knows 
and  commands  music.  Then  some  day  she  attends 
a  concert  where  a  Paderewski  who  is  music  flings  it 
forth  without  let  or  hindrance;  brings  it  crashing 
upon  rockbound  coasts  or  sends  it  floating  like  mist 
off  into  silence  sweet;  makes  it  mourn  or  rejoice, 
fight,  conquer,  or  sleep.  And  then  your  amateur, 
what  does  she  do?  What  is  her  first  reaction? 
Does  not  her  soul  cry  out  instinctively,  "I  cannot 
and  I  will  not ! "  ?  And  does  she  not  feel  like  renoun- 
cing forever  her  lame  makeshift,  her  second-rate 
temple  ? 

But  then,  oh,  then,  let  us  hope  that  the  prophet 
speaks.  What  of  her  home  and  her  circle  and  all  the 
humble  hearts  whom  she  can  serve?  What  of 
the  twilight  hour  when  souls  need  solace  ?  What  of 
all  those  folk  who  could  never  hear  the  great  artist, 
perhaps  not  even  if  they  heard  the  soimds  he  made  ? 


The  Revival  of  Idealism  119 

Shall  Solomon's  temple  ruin  her  project  ?  Or  shall 
its  inlaid  gold,  limited  in  time  and  place  and  service, 
be  but  a  challenge  to  the  best  she  has;  a  bond  of 
oneness,  the  call  of  the  general  to  the  rank  and  file  ? 
Have  we  not  felt  this,  my  friends?  Have  we  not 
faced  the  tragedy  of  two  talents,  and  of  one  ?  Have 
we  not  seen  the  back  of  those  we  thought  to  be 
competitors,  and  felt  our  pace  slacken  and  our 
confidence  relax  ? 

A  young  man  takes  up  debating  in  his  high-school 
years,  dehvers  a  few  declamations,  receives  the  ever- 
ready  praise  of  those  who  always  hope  great  things 
for  youth.  He  dreams  of  swaying  audiences  to  his 
will,  and,  with  the  thought  of  turning  his  talent  to 
its  highest  use,  determines  to  be  a  herald  of  the 
gospel  of  God's  love.  Already  he  sees  the  throngs 
being  molded  to  the  divine  will  that  is  vocal  in  him. 
And  then  one  day  he  drops  into  Trinity  Church 
where  Phillips  Brooks  is  in  the  height  of  his  power. 
Beauty  and  strength  are  there,  kindness  and  honesty 
and  deep  knowledge  of  the  soul.  His  eloquence 
comes  in  like  a  tide.  The  little  boats  and  the  big 
ships  that  lay  half  afloat  or  careened  on  the  muddy 
flats  of  a  commonplace  shore  right  themselves  and 
move  off  for  new  and  better  ventures  on  God's 
great  deep. 

But  what  of  the  lad,  what  of  the  preacher  that  is 
to  be?  See,  his  head  has  gone  down  and  rests 
almost  in  shame  on  the  pew  in  front.  Hot  tears 
rush  to  his  eyes.    Now  he  knows.    His  measure  is 


I20  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

taken.  Oh,  the  test  of  that  moment  when  the 
flicker  on  the  hearth  sees  the  Hghthouse  and  draws 
back  into  the  unburned  coal!  Then  comes  the 
word  of  the  Lord  by  the  prophet  saying,  "Do  I 
need  only  the  lighthouse  and  not  the  hearth  and 
the  friendly  lights  of  home?  Do  I  need  only  the 
hghthouse  and  not  the  street  lamps  for  the  wayfarer 
in  the  dark  and  dangerous  city  of  our  modern  Hfe  ?'' 

Then  it  becomes  plain,  the  oneness  of  all  God's 
messengers;  and  the  old  ideal  gathers  itself  up  for 
the  completion  of  its  temple.  God's  best  strikes 
hands  with  our  best,  and  every  man's  best  is  equal 
in  the  sight  of  God.  So  did  the  Christ  go  about 
among  us,  not  as  an  awful  verdict  but  as  an  emanci- 
pation. He  saw  the  Kingdom,  the  perfect  will  of 
God  entempled  in  the  whole  creation.  He  paid  the 
price.  At  his  call  mediocrity  leaped  into  excellence 
and  immortality.  Every  bud  of  faith  unfurled  and 
waved  its  signal  to  the  sun.  To  know  and  follow 
him  is  to  travel  the  hard  road  of  the  ideahst,  but  in 
that  way  is  God. 

Back  to  the  old  altars  let  us  go,  my  friends,  back 
to  the  old  loves,  the  old  ideals;  and  with  the  weight 
of  practical  affairs  full  upon  us  and  with  the  little 
wisdom  that  has  been  dearly  bought  let  us  dedicate 
ourselves  anew  to  our  half-built  temple.  For  the 
voice  of  the  prophet  is  the  voice  of  God:  ''Go  up 
to  the  mountain,  and  bring  wood,  and  build  the 
house;  and  I  will  take  pleasure  in  it,  and  I  will  be 
glorified,  saith  the  Lord." 


The  Revival  of  Idealism  121 

PRAYER 

Blessed  Spirit  of  God:  Bring  us  again  to  our 
sanctuaries.  They  are  incomplete,  neglected,  and  piti- 
ful in  the  light  of  our  early  hopes,  hut  we  dare  not  desert 
them.  How  can  we  thank  thee  for  the  glory  of  those 
early  visions  and  for  thy  rebukes  of  our  low  ambitions  ? 
Oh,  gird  us,  we  pray  thee,  that  we  may  no  longer  fear 
that  which  is  difficult  nor  scorn  that  which  is  ordinary. 
Let  our  common  task  glow  again  with  the  light  of  holy 
purpose,  and  give  us  some  part  in  thy  work  which 
forever  abides. 

Align  our  lives,  which  are  but  for  a  moment,  with 
thine  eternal  will.  Give  us  grace  to  cast  ease  aside  and 
to  act  in  the  day  of  our  opportunity.  Let  no  past 
grandeur  chill  our  ardor  and  no  idle  dream  of  the  far 
future  arrest  us  in  the  duty  of  today;  and  if  we  need  the 
discipline  of  failure  and  sorrow,  help  us  to  be  refined 
and  not  consumed  by  the  flame. 

We  acknowledge  every  movement  of  thy  spirit  within 
us  to  create  and  to  release  our  best  purposes.  And  when 
we  fall  from  our  enthusiasms  may  we  be  still  with  thee. 
Bless  all  in  thy  presence  who  know  the  tides  of  the 
Spirit  in  their  ebb  and  flow,  and  out  of  our  own  weak- 
ness may  there  come  a  broader  charity  toward  all  human 
failure  as  out  of  thy  justice  there  comes  a  more  confi- 
dent hope  in  every  worthy  cause. 

So  may  we  have  songs  for  sighing  and  the  garment  of 
praise  for  the  spirit  of  heaviness.  May  we  clasp  hands 
with  duty  as  with  a  dear  friend,  and  so  have  the  joy  of  Jesus 
in  whose  name  we  offier  ourselves  anew  to  thee.    Amen. 


VII 


WHAT  JESUS  THOUGHT  OF  HIS  OWN 
DEATH 

BY 

ERRETT  GATES 


WHAT  JESUS  THOUGHT  OF  HIS  OWN 
DEATH 

The  Son  of  man  must  suffer  many  things  and  be  rejected 
of  the  elders  and  chief  priests  and  scribes,  and  be  killed,  and 
the  third  day  be  raised  up. 

If  any  man  would  come  after  me,  let  him  deny  himself, 
and  take  up  his  cross  daily,  and  follow  me.  For  whosoever 
would  save  his  life  shall  lose  it;  but  whosoever  shall  lose 
his  life  for  my  sake,  the  same  shall  save  it  (Luke  9:22-24). 

For  the  Son  of  man  also  came  not  to  be  ministered  unto, 
but  to  minister,  and  to  give  his  life  a  ransom  for  many 
(Mark  10:45). 

The  death  of  Jesus  has  occupied  a  large  place 
in  the  thought  of  the  Christian  community  since 
his  day;  a  far  larger  place  than  in  his  own  thought, 
and  a  very  different  place.  Christian  theology  and 
poetry  have  built  their  conceptions  of  his  death, 
not  on  what  he  thought  or  said  about  it,  but  on  what 
the  prophets  of  the  Old  Testament  and  the  apostles 
of  the  New  are  supposed  to  have  said  about  it.  The 
historic  theology  of  the  atonement  is  like  a  pyramid 
built  on  its  apex.  Jesus  had  little  to  say  of  his 
death,  but  the  libraries  are  filled  with  the  theories 
of  it. 

I  am  not  concerned  at  this  time  to  deal  with  all 
these  numberless  theories  of  his  death  which  have 
played  so  large  a  part  in  religious  speculation,  either 
to  explain  them  or  refute  them;  but  to  inquire 
what  Jesus  himself  thought  of  his  death,  in  a  few 

125 


126  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

clear  statements  concerning  it.  For  there  are  some 
statements  concerning  his  death  which  are  not 
clear;  about  which  there  have  been  many  specula- 
tions to  no  moral  and  practical  purpose.  This  is 
especially  true  of  the  saying:  "This  is  my  blood  of 
the  covenant  which  is  poured  out  for  many."  This 
is  supposed  to  be  a  reference  to  his  death;  but  it  is 
veiled  in  a  form  of  expression  which  makes  its  mean- 
ing uncertain.  If  interpreted  at  all,  it  should  be 
interpreted  in  connection  with  his  teaching  which 
can  be  understood  with  some  certainty,  and  in  the 
Kght  of  his  total  body  of  thought.  The  final  com- 
mentary upon  what  he  said  is,  after  all,  the  ruling 
spirit  of  his  life  and  conduct. 

I  shall  try  to  unfold  the  meaning  of  his  death 
as  it  Hes  in  his  words  under  three  aspects:  its  cer- 
tainty, its  necessity,  and  its  efficacy. 

Jesus  does  not  speak  of  his  death,  until  late  in 
his  public  ministry;  but,  when  he  does  first  speak  of 
it,  we  are  impressed  with  his  matured  consciousness 
of  its  certainty.  He  says  to  his  disciples:  "The 
Son  of  man  must  suffer  many  things,  and  be  rejected 
of  the  elders  and  chief  priests  and  scribes,  and  be 
killed,  and  the  third  day  be  raised  up.''  Whence, 
then,  his  certainty  of  his  death?  Is  not  every 
human  being  just  as  certain  of  death  some  time? 
What  is  there  singular  in  it,  then?  It  was  not 
merely  the  certainty  of  dying,  for  he  must  have  been 
assured  of  that  as  an  inevitable  human  experience, 
from  the  earliest  period  of  his  life.     It  was  the  cer- 


What  Jesus  Thought  of  His  Own  Death     127 

tainty  of  a  violent,  premature  death,  at  the  hands  of 
the  rehgious  leaders  of  the  nation,  which  was  the  new 
and  singular  element  in  Jesus'  consciousness.  He 
did  not  have  far  to  seek  for  intimations  of  it.  It  was 
no  sudden  discovery,  no  new  revelation  from  heaven, 
but  the  result  of  a  long  experience  of  growing  conflict 
with  the  scribes  and  Pharisees.  In  the  first  days  of 
his  ministry  they  had  assumed  an  attitude  of  irrec- 
oncilable opposition  toward  him  and  had  charged 
him  with  having  a  devil  and  doing  his  beneficent 
works  under  the  power  of  the  prince  of  devils.  In 
that  judgment  of  him  they  judged  themselves. 
They  disclosed  a  fatal  moral  blindness  which  saw 
only  evil  in  that  which  was  good,  and  good  in  that 
which  was  evil.  With  such  a  spirit  Jesus  could 
come  to  no  terms.  The  fundamental  conflict  between 
his  teaching  and  theirs,  the  traps  set  to  catch  him 
in  his  talk,  the  rumors  that  came  to  him  of  plots  to 
destroy  him,  all  pointed  in  the  direction  of  a  tragic 
denouement. 

But  besides  his  acquaintance  with  the  scribes  and 
Pharisees  of  his  own  time,  he  knew  the  history  of 
his  people,  and  the  tragic  end  which  had  overtaken 
some  of  the  prophets  who  went  before  him.  Could 
he  hope  to  escape  their  fate  ?  Not  if  he  were  true 
to  his  calling.  He  read  his  own  destiny  in  the  light 
of  what  happened  from  Abel  to  Zachariah.  He  saw 
in  the  religious  leaders  of  his  own  time  the  "sons 
of  them  that  slew  the  prophets.''  He  felt  within 
himself  the  calling  and  spirit  of  a  prophet;   and  he 


128  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

saw  all  the  conditions  present  in  his  own  generation 
which  had  in  previous  times  required  the  blood  of  the 
righteous.  His  death,  therefore,  was  to  be  the  fate 
which  is  likely  to  overtake  any  good  man  in  an  evil 
age.  He  was  persecuted  for  righteousness'  sake. 
It  came  under  a  universal  law  of  progress.  The 
prophets  of  a  new  day,  the  bearers  of  the  torch  of 
progress,  the  reformers  of  an  old  order  or  the 
creators  of  a  new  order  have  always  paid  the  price 
of  their  calling  in  some  kind  of  suffering.  There  is 
no  escape  from  the  suffering,  except  in  escape  from 
the  calling;  but  with  Jesus  that  was  impossible. 
Having  chosen  his  calling,  having  seen  the  new  vision 
of  a  coming  Kingdom,  having  put  his  hand  to  the 
plow,  there  was  no  looking  back. 

There  is  also  a  note  of  necessity  running  through 
Jesus'  utterances  concerning  his  death.  He  not 
only  foresaw  that  he  would  die,  but  that  he  must 
die.  "The  Son  of  man  must  suffer  many  things." 
As  if  a  power  above  him  had  determined  this  event, 
and  gave  him  no  choice  in  the  matter;  as  if  there 
were  a  fixed  order  of  things,  a  divine  plan,  in  which 
he  must  play  his  part,  without  having  any  voice  in 
the  formation  of  the  plan  or  any  freedom  in  the 
execution  of  it.  Are  we  justified  in  taking  this 
view  of  the  necessity  of  his  death — a  part  which  he 
acted,  but  which  he  would  have  escaped  if  he  could  ? 

Jesus  has  been  portrayed  only  too  frequently  in 
our  speculations  as  the  victim  of  a  rigid  sacrificial 
system,  as  a  helpless  lamb  led  to  the  slaughter. 


What  Je:sus  Thought  of  His  Own  Death     129 

whose  death  meant  something  to  a  god  or  a  priest, 
but  nothing  to  himself.  If  anything  is  clear  in  his 
words,  it  is  that  he  understood  his  death  and  parti- 
cipated wholly  and  freely  in  it.  The  tradition 
recorded  in  John  is  true  to  all  that  we  know  of  Jesus, 
when  he  is  represented  as  saying  concerning  his  life : 
'^No  man  taketh  it  from  me,  but  I  lay  it  down  of 
myself.  I  have  power  to  lay  it  down,  and  I  have 
power  to  take  it  again.  This  commandment  re- 
ceived I  from  my  Father. ' '  It  was  a  free-will  offering 
on  his  own  part,  and  not  a  gift  wrested  from  him. 

But  why  must  he  suffer?  Could  he  not  have 
escaped  the  awful  ordeal?  Could  he  not  have 
retreated  from  the  conflict,  retired  to  the  quietness 
of  his  home  at  Nazareth,  pursued  his  carpentry, 
let  the  religious  customs,  and  ideas,  and  hopes  of 
his  people  alone,  and  died  quietly  in  his  bed  of  old 
age?  Yes  and  no.  Yes,  he  could,  if  there  had 
been  nothing  better  in  life  for  him  than  living  long 
and  softly,  and  dying  naturally.  There  was  not  a 
time  up  to  the  very  last  when  he  could  not  have 
made  peace  with  the  scribes  and  Pharisees,  and 
priests,  if  he  had  been  willing  to  pay  the  price. 
Yes,  he  could  have  saved  his  young  life  for  the 
infirmity  and  decay  of  old  age,  but  he  would  have 
lost  his  soul,  as  many  a  man  has  done  under  similar 
trials. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  he  could  not  retreat  from 
the  conflict,  not  merely  because  a  power  above  him 
would  not  let  him,  but  because  a  power  within 


130  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

him  would  not  let  him.  Deny  at  last  to  save  himself 
from  suffering  all  that  he  had  taught  his  disciples 
about  the  blessedness  of  purity  of  heart,  the  in- 
wardness of  true  righteousness,  and  the  infinite  value 
of  the  soul?  Turn  away  from  his  friends  and 
disciples  after  they  had  followed  him  and  ministered 
to  him  through  pain  and  loss,  believing  all  that  he 
taught  them  of  the  recompense  awaiting  them  in 
the  Kingdom  of  God  ?  That  was  impossible.  The 
love  and  approval  of  God,  the  confidence  of  his 
disciples  and  friends,  the  peace  of  his  own  soul,  all 
the  good  of  existence  would  have  gone  as  the  price 
paid  for  peace  with  hypocrites,  whited  sepulchers, 
and  blind  leaders  of  the  blind.  Such  an  alliance 
at  the  price  of  such  a  betrayal  of  truth  and  degrada- 
tion of  soul  was  intolerable. 

But  when  he  first  made  the  announcement  of 
his  death  to  his  disciples,  he  showed  that  he  had 
grasped  the  meaning  of  it  in  its  deeper  and  wider 
bearings.  It  was  no  solitary  trial  he  was  enduring, 
no  unique  or  isolated  experience  that  confronted  him. 
Other  righteous  men  had  died  for  their  righteousness 
before  him,  and  many  of  his  disciples  would  die  for 
their  faith  after  him.  The  giving  of  life  is  inescap- 
able to  one  who  would  find  life.  He  seized  it  in  its 
universal  aspect  as  a  principle  of  all  moral  conduct. 
He  said  to  his  disciples,  after  Peter  had  declared  that 
violent  suffering  and  death  could  not  come  to  him: 
"You  tell  me  that  this  fate  does  not  belong  to  me 
and  shall  never  happen  to  me.    You  do  not  seem  to 


What  Jesus  Thought  of  His  Own  Death     131 

understand  the  nature  of  the  Hfe  I  am  living,  and 
that  you  are  called  to  live  in  following  me.  The 
very  principle  of  it  is  self-sacrifice.  If  any  man 
would  come  after  me,  let  him  deny  himself,  and 
take  up  his  cross,  and  follow  me.  For  whosoever 
would  save  his  life  shall  lose  it;  and  whosoever  shall 
lose  his  Hfe  for  my  sake  shall  find  it.  Do  not  suppose 
then  that  death  in  this  cause  is  disaster;  it  is  the 
condition  of  success.  It  belongs  to  the  nature  of 
true  Hfe;  he  that  loses  his  life  finds  it,  he  that  saves 
it  loses  it.  Since  this  is  so,  my  suffering  and  death 
faU  in  with  the  very  nature  of  my  messianic  caUing.'' 
Jesus  died  his  death  as  he  had  lived  his  life,  in 
the  realm  of  inward  moral  necessity,  and  in  it  he 
found  freedom.  He  had  to  die  as  he  did  because 
he  lived  as  he  had.  If  he  could  have  changed  the 
kind  of  Hfe,  he  might  have  averted  the  kind  of  death. 
But  to  have  changed  his  life  would  have  been  con- 
trary to  aU  his  ideals  and  desires,  and  would  have 
given  him  more  suffering  than  the  cross.  There  is  a 
necessity  which  is  a  genuine  freedom.  For  what  is 
our  freedom  ?  The  Hberty  to  choose  between  good 
and  evil,  with  the  possibility  always  of  choosing  the 
evil,  or  the  inclination  always  to  choose  the  good  ? 
Is  a  man  unfree  because  he  always  keeps  one  direc- 
tion and  cannot  be  turned  away  from  it?  Moral 
freedom  is  a  personal  matter;  we  cannot  judge 
another's  freedom.  It  is  a  man's  harmony  with 
himself;  the  harmony  of  his  deed  with  his  will,  of 
his  life  with  his  creed.     One  man's  freedom  might  be 


132  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

another's  bondage.  The  good  man  is  free  in  the 
pursuit  of  his  goodness;  the  bad  man,  in  the  pursuit 
of  his  wickedness.  Jesus  was  able  to  do  what  he 
willed;  to  send  himself  in  the  direction  of  his  domi- 
nant inchnation,  even  though  it  were  a  way  beset 
with  pain  and  death.  That  was  for  him  to  be  free. 
His  death,  therefore,  was  a  voluntary  act  of  his  own, 
and  not  the  arbitrary  infliction  of  another. 

That  does  not  mean  that  it  was  endured  alone 
out  of  all  relation  to  God.  The  imperative  within 
him  which  forbade  compromise  with  unrighteousness 
or  retreat  from  his  messianic  caUing  he  identified 
with  God.  He  was  conscious  of  a  complete  fusion 
of  his  own  with  his  Father's  will.  But  we  have  no 
means  of  knowing  the  ground  of  the  divine  will  for 
him  except  as  it  finds  expression  in  his  own  will. 
His  own  and  his  Father's  will  united  within  him  and 
constituted  a  moral  will  grounded  in  the  dictates  of 
moral  feeling  and  reason.  What  he  did  he  did 
both  because  it  was  right  and  because  it  was  God's 
will,  and  between  them  there  was  no  conflict.  It 
was  this  consciousness  of  the  Father's  will  in  his 
death  which  came  to  his  rescue  at  last  in  Gethsemane, 
when  he  hesitated  for  the  moment  to  go  forward  and 
drink  the  cup  of  his  sufferings  that  awaited  him. 
But  every  impulse  within  him  and  every  intimation 
from  heaven  finally  united  in  urging  him  on  to  his 
destiny. 

It  would  seem,  then,  that  the  death  of  Jesus  was 
an  event  whose  certainty  is  wholly  comprehensible 


What  Jesus  Thought  of  His  Own  Death     133 

and  whose  necessity  is  fully  justifiable  within  the 
sphere  of  his  own  moral  life,  and  the  conditions  of 
his  time. 

But  the  Christian  community  has  been  far  more 
interested  and  has  insisted  far  more  strenuously 
upon  the  efficacy  of  his  death.  "  For  the  Son  of  man 
came  not  to  be  ministered  unto  but  to  minister  and 
to  give  his  life  a  ransom  for  many.''  ^'I  am  the 
good  shepherd;  the  good  shepherd  layeth  down 
his  life  for  the  sheep."  One  looks  in  vain  in  these 
words  or  in  any  other  words  of  Jesus  for  the  notion 
that  his  death  was  needed  to  effect  a  change  in 
God's  disposition  toward  man;  that  he  appeased 
the  divine  wrath  or  satisfied  the  divine  justice. 
Such  notions  are  pure  importations  into  the  teaching 
of  Jesus,  either  from  Jewish  or  pagan  religious  sources. 

But  some  of  the  prophets  and  psalmists  of  the 
Old  Testament  rose  above  the  priestly  conception 
of  Jehovah  and  declared  that  he  never  required 
the  death  of  anything  to  satisfy  him. 

For  thou  delightest  not  in  sacrifice; 
Else  would  I  give  it : 
Thou  hast  no  pleasure  in  burnt-offering. 
The  sacrifices  of  God  are  a  broken  spirit: 
A  broken  and  a  contrite  heart,  O  God,  thou  wilt  not 
despise. 

And  Isaiah  testified  that  God  was  far  more  pleased 
with  brotherly  love  and  justice,  with  clean  hands 
and  pure  hearts,  than  with  the  blood  of  bullocks,  or 
of  lambs,  or  of  he-goats. 


134  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

Nor  can  we  attribute  to  Jesus  that  other  equally 
heathenish  superstition  that  there  is  a  kind  of  virtue 
in  sujffering  as  such.  Jesus  never  spoke  a  word  in 
praise  of  mere  suffering;  but  many  words  in  com- 
fort of  those  who  were  under  suffering  for  their 
righteousness.  It  is  not  suffering  that  has  value, 
but  what  is  achieved  under  suffering  or  through 
suffering.  The  same  thing  would  have  had  the 
same  value  if  it  could  have  been  achieved  without 
suffering. 

If  the  mere  dying  of  Jesus  were  his  highest 
achievement,  then  it  would  have  been  enough  if 
he  had  merely  died ;  whether  in  this  world  or  another, 
on  this  planet  or  another,  would  have  made  no 
difference,  unless  the  value  of  that  death  is  what  it 
achieved  emotionally  within  those  who  witnessed 
it.  But  even  then  its  realistic  description  would 
have  carried  the  same  kind  of  efficacy.  It  is  quite 
possible  that  the  dying  of  Jesus — the  brutal  circum- 
stances of  it  and  the  spectacle  of  suffering  inno- 
cence— started  a  reaction  in  favor  of  his  person  and 
cause.  Other  causes  have  prospered  on  the  unjust 
suffering  of  their  votaries.  Persecution  has  fre- 
quently overreached  its  mark  and  started  a  revulsion 
of  feeling  in  favor  of  the  persecuted.  Can  it  be 
that  Christianity  owes  its  existence  to  the  timely 
and  fortunate  mistreatment  of  its  founder  and  the 
affecting  nature  of  his  last  sufferings? 

The  mere  statement  of  this  absurdity  makes  us 
feel  how  remote  it  was  from  Jesus'  spirit  or  purpose 


What  Jesus  Thought  of  His  Own  Death     135 

to  stage  the  physical  sufferings  of  himself  or  of  his 
disciples.  If  there  was  any  value  in  his  death,  it 
was  because  of  the  life  that  preceded  it.  He  said 
he  came  to  give  his  life  a  ransom  for  many.  The 
life  of  Jesus  was  not  deposited  in  the  blood  in  his 
veins,  like  the  life  of  a  lamb  or  goat.  An  animal 
has  no  other  life  to  give.  The  life  he  gave  as  a 
ransom  for  many  was  the  life  he  gave  in  his  min- 
istering to  others;  it  was  the  Hfe  he  Hved  in  the 
spirit  that  had  value,  and  not  the  life  he  lived  in  the 
body,  except  as  that  life  was  the  temporary  vehicle 
of  the  spiritual  life,  and  sustained  it  before  the  eyes 
of  men.  But  all  through  the  years  since  he  died, 
in  spite  of  the  theologians  and  poets  and  priests  and 
artists  and  sculptors  who  have  all  but  made  of 
Christianity  a  cult  of  the  Lord's  physical  sufferings, 
the  influence  that  has  flowed  from  Jesus  has  come 
from  what  he  said  and  did  and  not  from  what 
happened  to  him  on  Calvary. 

"The  Son  of  man  came  to  minister. '^  Minister- 
ing is  a  life-process  not  a  death-act. 

"The  good  shepherd  layeth  down  his  life  for 
the  sheep."  It  is  not  the  shepherd's  business 
merely  to  die,  but  to  feed  and  protect  and  shelter 
his  sheep.  A  dead  shepherd  or  a  dying  shepherd 
would  be  no  shepherd  at  all.  It  is  the  effort  of  a 
good  shepherd  to  avoid  death,  and  not  to  court  it; 
to  hve  just  as  long  as  he  can  in  order  to  save  as  many 
of  the  sheep  as  possible.  If  he  must  die,  as  every 
good  shepherd  is  ready  to  do  if  it  becomes  necessary 


) 


136  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

in  the  discharge  of  his  calling,  he  will  die  trying  to 
save  the  lives  of  his  sheep,  and  not  as  if  he  were 
carrying  out  a  foreordained  scheme  of  his  employer. 
Dying  is  no  advantage  either  to  the  sheep  or  to  the 
shepherd.  He  can  do  nothing  for  them  except  by 
living  with  them.  His  living  with  them  gives  him 
an  opportunity  to  prove  his  love  and  devotion  to 
them;  while  his  dying  for  them  proves  the  measure 
of  his  love  and  devotion.  The  death  of  the 
shepherd  would  be  only  failure  and  loss  where  he 
had  no  chance  to  live  with  them  and  provide  for 
their  security  in  his  absence. 

The  dying  of  Jesus  would  have  meant  no  more 
to  the  world  than  the  dying  of  the  thieves  on  either 
side  of  him  if  his  life  had  meant  no  more  than  theirs. 
His  dying  was  not  something  apart  from  his  living, 
but  a  part  of  it.  The  principle  of  the  one  was  the 
principle  of  the  other.  His  whole  life  was  a  self- 
giving,  a  progressive  dying;  while  his  dying  was 
but  the  final  act  of  his  self-giving.  He  must  have 
approached  the  cross — the  limit  of  human  endur- 
ance— many  times  before  he  finally  hung  upon  it. 
He  carried  about  daily  in  his  spirit  the  form  of  the 
cross;  and  that  was  his  atonement.  The  ebbing 
out  of  his  life  began  anew  every  morning  and  was 
stayed  only  by  the  coming  of  night,  which  sent  the 
multitudes  of  the  sick  away  to  their  homes.  His 
life  was  a  daily  process  of  dying  and  a  daily  process 
of  rising  to  new  life  again.  The  soldiers  merely 
took  what  was  left  at  the  close  of  one  of  these  days. 


What  Jesus  Thought  of  His  Own  Death     137 

All  along  the  way  he  traveled  doing  good,  he  left 
the  fragments  of  his  life,  in  wistful  minds  awakened 
by  his  words,  or  in  grateful  hearts  restored  to  health 
and  strength. 

He  gave  his  Hf e  a  ransom :  it  was  to  accomplish  a 
deHverance  for  many.  What  this  deliverance  was  he 
does  not  tell  us.  But  keeping  in  mind  the  conclusion 
that  the  hfe  contained  all  the  efficacy  of  the  death, 
it  must  be  that  the  life  revealed  the  nature  of  the 
deliverance.  That  Hfe  began  to  be  effective  in  his 
lifetime  and  not  after  his  death;  and  what  men 
experienced  under  his  teaching,  preaching,  healing, 
and  forgiving  was  the  ransom  he  came  to  bring. 

Men  were  variously  affected  by  him :  some  only 
in  their  bodily  conditions;  others  in  their  social, 
mental,  or  moral  conditions.  The  ransoming  power 
of  Jesus  was  just  as  extensive,  and  of  the  same  nature, 
as  the  evils  he  removed.  He  took  away  their  sick- 
nesses and  diseases;  their  sins  and  fears;  their 
hatred  and  pride  and  envy  and  hypocrisy.  He 
summed  up  all  of  his  redemptive  activity  for  men 
in  the  phrase,  ^'the  Kingdom  of  heaven.'^  Whatever 
this  may  have  meant,  his  ransom  meant.  By  so 
much  as  he  persuaded  men  to  enter  this  Kingdom  he 
redeemed  them,  then  and  there.  It  certainly  meant 
deliverance  from  sin;  for  the  Kingdom  of  heaven 
was  a  kingdom  of  righteousness.  Whether  it  in- 
cluded also  deliverance  from  the  '^  wrath  of  God," 
the  "penalties  of  the  law,"  "captivity  to  Satan," 
or  the  "torments  of  hell"  depended  upon  the  reahty 


138  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

of  those  theological  evils,  for  one  who  has  been 
delivered  from  sin  has  been  delivered  from  these 
things,  and  from  the  fear  of  them. 

His  deliverance  was  intended  to  accomplish  for 
men  their  highest  good,  both  here  and  hereafter. 
But  he  conceived  their  highest  good  in  terms  of  a 
coming  kingdom,  a  heavenly  community,  in  which 
they  should  be  ruled  in  all  of  their  relations  by  the 
impulse  of  brotherly  love.  The  deliverance  he 
brought,  therefore,  was  a  real  deliverance,  present 
and  earthly.  He  taught  his  disciples  to  pray  that 
the  Kingdom  might  come,  and  that  the  will  of  God 
might  be  done  on  earth  as  in  heaven.  He  did  not 
propose  to  do  something  for  men  merely  in  heaven, 
or  in  the  future,  or  in  their  absence,  or  in  another 
state  of  being;  though  the  good  he  brought  was  to 
abide  with  them  wherever  and  as  long  as  they  existed, 
but  not  without  their  consent  or  participation.  It 
was  a  good  which  belonged  to  them,  and  was  of 
their  choosing  and  making. 

We  come  then  to  the  final  and  perhaps  the  most 
vital  phase  of  Jesus'  thought  concerning  his  own 
death — how  it  becomes  efficacious  for  men.  He 
did  not  intend  to  impose  its  efficacy  upon  them 
without  their  co-operation.  By  the  very  nature  of 
the  deliverance  he  proposed,  as  a  moral  transaction, 
it  could  not  take  place  without  the  voluntary  and 
active  participation  of  men  themselves.  Sin  that 
is  taken  away  from  a  man  without  his  consent  will 
return  to  him.     Virtue  that  is  imputed  to  him  with- 


What  Jesus  Thought  of  His  Own  Death     139 

out  his  choice  of  it  is  not  his  own.  It  was  as  far 
from  Jesus  to  impute  to  men  the  values  of  his  death 
as  the  virtues  of  his  Hfe. 

The  death  of  Jesus  was,  for  the  disciples,  as 
much  a  part  of  the  following  of  Jesus  as  his  life. 
As  they  were  indissolubly  joined  in  the  career  of 
Jesus,  so  were  they  to  be  in  the  career  of  a  disciple. 
He  said,  "  If  any  man  would  come  after  me,  let  him 
deny  himself  and  take  up  his  cross  daily  and  follow 
me.  For  whosoever  would  save  his  life  shall  lose 
it:  and  whosoever  shall  lose  his  life  for  my  sake, 
the  same  shall  save  it."  Anyone  who  would  Uve 
his  life  must  adopt  the  principle  and  possibility  of 
his  death.  His  death,  therefore,  was  not  a  soUtary 
transaction  in  the  history  of  redemption  which  took 
place  once  and  for  all  as  a  great  substitute  for  men; 
but  it  was  a  pattern  for  everyone  who  would  follow 
him.  The  redemption  of  the  world  is  a  co-operative 
process  in  which  everyone  who  shares  in  it  is  co- 
laborer  and  fellow-redeemer  with  Jesus.  Everyone 
must  bear  his  own  cross,  must  make  his  own  sacri- 
fice for  sin,  must  lay  down  his  life  as  an  atonement 
both  for  himself  and  for  the  cause  which  requires  it. 
And  whether  he  give  his  life  gradually  for  a  cause  in 
a  long  career  of  self-forgetful  service,  or  suddenly 
as  a  dramatic  testimony  to  his  devotion,  it  amounts 
to  the  same  thing.  It  is  the  will  to  die  which  is  the 
essence  of  self-sacrifice. 

It  is  not  often  that  the  giving  of  one  man's  life 
is  enough  for  the  triumph  of  a  righteous  cause. 


I40  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

Many  offerings  for  sin  must  usually  be  made.  A 
multitude  which  no  man  can  number  has  already 
been  offered  in  the  single  cause  of  religious  liberty. 
How  many  more  will  be  required  no  one  can  say. 
Everyone,  in  fact,  who  dedicates  himself  to  that 
cause  with  a  will  to  die  is  a  prospective  martyr  to  it. 
He  may  never  be  advanced  to  the  ranks  of  actual 
martyrs,  but  his  devotion  has  furthered  the  cause  to 
the  extent  of  his  ability.  And  that  is  what  really 
counts  in  any  cause — the  service  of  living  confessors. 
Jesus  nowhere  intimated  that  he  would  be  the  only 
sufferer  in  his  cause.  On  the  other  hand,  he  fore- 
warned his  disciples  that  like  sufferings  with  his 
own  were  destined  to  befall  them.  In  this  respect 
the  disciple  shall  not  be  above  his  teacher,  nor  the 
servant  above  his  lord.  "If  they  have  persecuted 
me  they  will  persecute  you  also,"  he  said. 

But  cannot  the  disciple  of  Christ  hope  for  a  time 
when  there  will  be  no  more  need  of  sacrifice  for  sin, 
when  the  last  martyr  shall  lay  down  his  life  ?  There 
may  come  a  time  in  the  transformation  of  human 
nature  and  society  when  brother  shall  no  longer 
deliver  up  brother  to  death  for  Christ's  sake  or  for 
righteousness'  sake;  but  so  long  as  there  is  human 
want  and  misery,  greed,  envy,  and  selfishness,  there 
will  be  opportunities  to  minister  and  to  give  one's 
life  a  ransom  for  many. 


What  Jesus  Thought  of  His  Own  Death     141 

PRAYER 

Our  Father:  Help  us  to  enter  more  fully  into  the 
spirit  of  Jesus'  life,  that  we  may  truly  know  him,  and 
the  power  of  his  resurrection  and  the  fellowship  of  his 
sufferings,  becoming  conformable  unto  his  death;  for 
we  believe  that  if  we  suffer  with  him,  we  shall  also  live 
with  him.  Take  away  from  us  all  fear  of  losing  the 
joy  and  good  of  life  if  we  should  give  our  lives.  Bless 
all  those  who  are  laying  down  their  lives  for  others  in 
the  manifold  ways  of  human  service:  and  comfort 
them  with  the  assurance  that  they  do  not  suffer  alone 
nor  in  vain,  but  have  fellowship  with  the  spirits  of  all 
good  men,  and  with  him  who  was  made  perfect  through 
suffering.  We  rejoice  to  believe  in  this  universal 
fellowship  of  suffering  and  of  self-giving  which  con- 
stitutes the  real  church  of  God,  the  communion  of 
saints,  both  past  and  present,  in  heaven  and  on  earth. 
Make  us  worthy  of  fellowship  in  this  church  and  to 
this  church  may  we  be  joined  by  faith  and  by  love,  and 
by  patience  in  well-doing. 

Make  us  ready  always  to  do  good  unto  all  men;  to 
love  as  we  have  been  loved,  and  to  forgive  as  we  also 
have  been  forgiven.  In  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ  our 
Lord,  who  loved  us  and  gave  himself  for  us.    Amen. 


VIII 

THE  AUTHORITY  OF  THE  SPIRIT  IN 
THE  RELIGION  OF  PAUL 

BY 

SHIRLEY  JACKSON  CASE 


THE  AUTHORITY  OF  THE  SPIRIT  IN  THE 
RELIGION  OF  PAUL 

For  as  many  as  are  led  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  these  are 
sons  of  God  (Rom.  8:14). 

Paul  has  always  been  given  a  large  place  in  the 
thinking  of  Christendom.  His  claim  to  unique 
attention  is  certainly  well  founded,  resting  as  it  does 
upon  a  variety  of  considerations. 

In  the  first  place  he  has  contributed  very  largely 
to  the  making  of  our  New  Testament.  Think  for 
a  moment  of  the  relatively  large  quantity  of  liter- 
ature that  has  been  preserved  for  us  under  his  name. 
First,  we  read  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  with  its 
sixteen  chapters  packed  full  of  strong  thinking  and 
pertinent  admonition;  then  comes  the  Corinthian 
correspondence,  twenty-nine  chapters  in  all,  in  which 
various  themes  are  discussed  with  remarkable  vigor; 
then  follow  the  shorter  but  no  less  interesting  letters 
to  the  Galatians,  the  Ephesians,  the  Philippians, 
the  Colossians,  and  the  Thessalonians,  making  an 
addition  of  twenty-eight  chapters.  All  these  are 
written  to  churches.  To  individuals  are  the  two 
letters  to  Timothy,  together  ten  chapters  in  length, 
and  the  short  notes  to  Titus  and  Philemon.  In  all 
about  one-fourth  the  entire  New  Testament  liter- 
ature is  thus  credited  to  Paul;  and  if  we  think  also 
of  the  Gospel  of  Luke  and  the  Book  of  Acts,  com- 
monly supposed  to  have  been  written  by  Luke,  the 

145 


146  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

gentile  companion  of  Paul,  we  obtain  a  total  of 
one-half  the  New  Testament  to  be  connected 
directly  or  indirectly  with  the  life  and  work  of  the 
first  great  missionary  to  the  Gentiles. 

Moreover,  an  additional  importance  attaches 
to  his  writings  because  of  their  antiquity.  When 
John  Mark  was  yet  a  young  man  learning  his  first 
lessons  in  missionary  work,  Paul  had  already  been 
laboring  for  about  fifteen  years  in  the  regions  of 
Syria  and  Cilicia;  and  his  work  had  been  fully 
accomphshed — all  his  letters  written  and  his  gospel 
preached  "from  Jerusalem  and  round  about  even 
unto  lUyricum,''  yes,  even  unto  Rome — before  the 
Gospel  of  Mark  was  composed.  For  the  most  part 
the  Pauline  letters  fall  between  the  years  fifty  and 
sixty,  thus  antedating  the  earliest  Gospel,  that  of 
Mark,  by  at  least  a  decade,  and  standing  probably 
half  a  century  before  the  writing  of  the  Fourth 
Gospel.  When  we  wish  to  come  into  touch  with 
the  earliest  phases  of  Christianity  that  have  been 
preserved  for  us  in  literature,  we  are  dependent  for 
our  information  upon  the  remains  of  that  corre- 
spondence which  Paul  carried  on  with  the  churches 
he  planted  at  many  important  points  in  the  Roman 
Empire. 

Paul's  importance  theologically  has  always  been 
great.  His  doctrine  of  Jesus'  pre-existent  divinity 
early  became  the  keynote  of  speculation  about  the 
person  of  Christ,  and  his  terminology  in  describing 
the  significance  of  Jesus'  death  has  been  largely 


Authority  of  the  Spirit  in  PauVs  Religion     147 

influential,  both  in  earlier  and  in  more  recent  times, 
in  determining  the  theological  exposition  of  the  idea 
of  atonement.  Many  other  tenets  have  been  sup- 
ported from  time  to  time  by  reference  to  Pauline 
texts.  For  example,  the  idea  of  "total  depravity" 
seemed  to  find  strong  authentication  in  the  state- 
ment to  the  Romans  that  through  one  man's  dis- 
obedience the  many  were  made  sinners;  while  the 
doctrine  of  "election"  was  thought  to  rest  in  an 
impregnable  fortress  behind  another  passage  in  the 
letter  to  Rome:  "Whom  he  foreknew  he  also  fore- 
ordained to  be  conformed  to  the  image  of  his  Son, 
....  and  whom  he  foreordained,  them  he  also 
called,  and  whom  he  called,  them  he  also  justified, 
and  whom  he  justified,  them  he  also  glorified." 
Paul's  idea  of  salvation  by  faith,  in  contrast  with 
salvation  by  works,  as  well  as  many  other  character- 
istics of  Pauline  thought,  has  been  widely  influential, 
especially  in  Protestant  circles.  Of  all  the  New 
Testament  writers  Paul  is  pre-eminently  the  theo- 
logian's mainstay  as  a  source  of  proof-texts. 

Indeed  his  influence  upon  the  life  and  thinking 
of  Christianity  has  been  so  great  that  some  have 
questioned  whether  he  rather  than  Jesus  should  not 
be  regarded  as  the  real  founder  of  our  religion. 
Certainly  many  of  the  dogmas  which  have  been 
built  up  in  Christianity  on  a  Pauline  basis,  and 
made  so  prominent  that  they  have  sometimes 
seemed  to  be  the  very  pillars  supporting  the  whole 
structure  of  our  faith,  have  little  or  no  connection 


148  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

with  the  teaching  of  Jesus  as  reported  in  our  oldest 
Gospels.  But  we  should  remember  that  Paul's 
doctrines  are  not  the  foundation  of  his  religion  but 
its  interpretative  expansion;  he  preached  Christ 
according  to  the  doctrines  which  the  ideas  of  the 
time  allowed  him  to  construct,  but  behind  his 
preaching,  and  fundamental  to  it,  was  his  spiritual 
Hfe  in  Christ.  The  apostle  put  first  things  first; 
it  is  unfair  to  him  to  reverse  the  order  of  progression. 
When  today  we  turn  to  him  for  help  by  making 
the  letter  of  his  teaching  a  norm  for  modern  life 
and  thinking,  we  are  hardly  true  to  his  wish.  He 
did  not  allow  those  Christians  who  received  instruc- 
tion from  him  to  take  the  new  life  quite  so  easily; 
it  was  not  to  be  lived  by  a  rule  prescribed  from 
without,  but  by  the  guidance  of  the  Spirit  realized 
in  the  personal  religious  experience  of  each  convert. 
To  be  sure,  Paul  admonished,  he  counseled,  he 
instructed,  he  often  demanded  obedience,  and  he 
sometimes  threatened  the  rod,  not,  however,  that 
he  might  lord  it  over  any  man's  faith  but  that  he 
might  be  a  helper  of  every  man's  joy.  Though  he 
did  not  hesitate  to  claim  an  authority  for  himself 
equal  to  that  of  the  chiefest  apostles,  though  he 
believed  Christ  had  once  spoken  personally  out  of 
the  heavens  calling  him  to  evangelize  the  Gentiles, 
though  he  rejoiced  in  visions  and  revelations  of  the 
Lord  as  his  frequent  privilege,  yet  he  presented 
himself  as  the  minister  of  the  brethren  and  not  as 
their  overlord.     Not  as  many  as  are  led  by  Paul 


Authority  of  the  Spirit  in  PauVs  Religion     149 

but  as  many  as  are  led  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  these 
are  sons  of  God. 

Today  we  are  wont  to  estimate  the  apostle^s 
work  immediately  in  terms  of  our  own  thinking, 
and  so  our  interpretation  of  him  is  in  danger  of 
lacking  realism  and  vitality.  Let  us  try,  in  imagina- 
tion, to  place  ourselves  among  his  contemporaries, 
and  from  that  point  of  view  endeavor  to  imderstand 
the  secret  of  his  life.  In  this  way  we  may  be  able 
to  appreciate  more  accurately  the  really  vital  quahty 
of  his  personal  religion  and  of  the  religion  he  sought 
to  have  all  Christians  realize  for  themselves.  We 
would  see  Paul  in  action,  breaking  new  ground  on 
the  frontier,  then  sowing  the  seed  and  leaving  it  to 
the  care  of  young  and  inexperienced  assistants  while 
he  pushes  forward  to  the  cultivation  of  new  fields. 

At  the  outset  it  must  be  admitted  that  Paul  did 
not  present  a  prepossessing  picture  to  the  casual 
observer.  He  first  appeared  upon  the  scene  as 
a  religious  partisan  bitterly  persecuting  those  whose 
views  did  not  harmonize  with  his  own.  Then  he 
embraced  the  cause  he  had  once  so  vigorously  per- 
secuted, but  the  spectator  would  call  it  an  insig- 
nificant cause.  Paul  was  still  only  a  despised  Jew 
in  the  eyes  of  the  Gentiles,  with  the  additional  dis- 
advantage of  being  hated  as  a  traitor  by  his  Jewish 
kinsmen.  Even  the  members  of  the  mother  church 
at  Jerusalem  at  first  looked  upon  him  with  sus- 
picion and  later  regarded  him  with  special  disfavor 


150  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

for  granting  the  Gentiles  freedom  from  certain 
Mosaic  ordinances.  Moreover,  he  did  not  have 
even  those  engaging  quahties  of  personal  appear- 
ance that  would  help  him  to  win  favor.  To  gentile 
ears  accustomed  to  the  rhetorician's  smooth  phrases 
he  was  "contemptible"  of  speech,  to  eyes  that  took 
delight  in  the  athlete's  perfection  of  physical  form 
he  very  naturally  seemed  mean  of  stature,  and  he 
was  not  only  weak  in  bodily  presence  but  at  times 
his  physical  disabilities  became  so  repugnant  that 
he  would  not  have  been  surprised  had  those  who 
saw  him  under  such  circumstances  despised  him 
and  his  work.  His  unique  equipment  was  not  of 
the  external  sort. 

It  would  not  be  strange  if  a  contemporary  ob- 
server had  also  pronounced  PauFs  work  a  failure. 
His  preaching  was  frequently  attended  by  severe 
opposition  making  necessary  a  hasty  and  secret 
flight,  while  at  other  times  he  was  caught  by  the 
mob  and  barely  escaped  with  his  Hfe.  The  guard- 
ians of  civil  order  not  unnaturally  looked  upon  him 
as  a  rioter  and  disturber  of  the  peace.  Much  of 
his  life  was,  accordingly,  spent  in  prison.  At  the 
moment  when  he  thought  to  bring  his  work  in  the 
East  to  completion  by  a  visit  to  Jerusalem  before 
turning  his  steps  westward  to  occupy  new  territory, 
his  active  career  was  cut  short  by  an  incarceration 
of  two  years  at  Caesarea  followed  by  a  similar 
period  at  Rome.  If  he  was  liberated  at  all,  it  was 
only  a  temporary  release,  to  be  followed  shortly 


Authority  of  the  Spirit  in  Paul's  Religion     151 

by  a  second  capture  which  resulted  in  his  death. 
His  life  went  out,  as  indeed  much  of  it  had  been 
Hved,  under  the  shadow  of  seeming  defeat. 

We  might  urge  that  the  churches  he  established 
marked  his  success.  But  how  did  these  churches 
appear  in  Paul's  day?  The  membership  seems  to 
have  been  drawn,  for  the  most  part,  from  the  lower 
classes;  when  the  apostle  was  absent  some  of  these 
congregations  were  so  fickle  that  they  fell  an  easy 
prey  to  his  opponents;  at  other  times  certain  indi- 
viduals indulged  in  immoral  acts  which  greatly 
grieved  him,  and  when  he  reproved  them  they 
threatened  to  repudiate  him  and  his  work.  Never 
was  he  free  from  anxiety  for  the  churches.  We 
mistake  the  situation  if  we  read  back  into  the 
apostle's  day  our  thought  of  Christianity  as  a  power- 
ful organization  perpetuating  itself  by  its  own 
momentum  almost  regardless  of  the  transitory 
activity  of  this  or  that  individual.  Paul  saw  the 
beginnings  of  the  organization;  it  was  the  result  of 
his  labor,  not  the  constant  source  of  support  for 
individual  effort  that  it  is  today. 

In  no  respect  did  Paul  fall  heir  to  a  fortunate 
combination  of  circumstances  which  buoyed  him 
up  and  carried  him  forward  almost  involuntarily 
in  his  life  of  strenuous  activity.  Throughout  his 
career  he  was  in  a  state  of  constant  struggle,  striving 
to  transcend  the  limitations  which  circumstances 
placed  upon  him,  yet  he  maintained  the  struggle 
with  unswerving  purpose  to  the  end  of  his  life. 


152  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

What  kept  him  steadfast  ?  What  kept  the  deep 
undercurrent  of  his  Hfe  moving  on  steadily  despite 
the  stormy  experiences  that  beat  upon  its  surface? 
There  seems  to  be  only  one  possible  answer.  All 
the  while  he  counted  himself  to  be  under  the  guid- 
ance of  an  authoritative  voice,  the  leading  of  the 
Spirit  of  God.  It  was  not  strange  that  an  onlooker, 
unacquainted  with  the  apostle's  conception  of  true 
religion,  should  fail  to  take  this  fact  into  consider- 
ation. The  Jews  were  placing  stress  upon  legal 
observances,  the  Gentiles  were  demanding  an  erudite 
philosophy,  or  were  content  with  external  forms 
after  the  manner  of  the  heathen  faiths,  but  to  find 
the  acme  of  religion  in  a  life  of  spiritual  relation- 
ship to  God  was  not  easy  even  for  the  primitive 
church  in  Palestine  where  Jesus  had  made  this  ideal 
the  very  kernel  of  his  teaching. 

Nor  is  it  altogether  surprising  in  our  time  to  find 
persons  who  believe  themselves  true  followers  of 
Paul,  yet  who  fail  to  comprehend  with  full  clearness 
this  central  item  in  his  religion.  He  spoke  so  many 
words  of  value,  he  performed  so  many  admirable 
deeds,  he  thought  so  vigorously  upon  the  problems 
of  that  age  that  these  secondary  items  are  wont  to 
receive  our  chief  attention.  We  concern  ourselves 
with  hearing  his  words,  with  imitating  his  deeds, 
or  with  grasping  his  thought,  and  in  so  doing  per- 
haps we  forget  that  the  attainment  of  the  Pauline 
t3^e  of  life  is  the  matter  of  greater  consequence. 
His  thinking  may  not  be  adequate  to  meet  the 


Authority  of  the  Spirit  in  Paul's  Religion     153 

demands  of  our  age,  mere  imitation  of  his  conduct 
can  never  produce  very  satisfactory  results  under  a 
new  set  of  circumstances,  and  very  probably  Paul 
would  have  evolved  a  somewhat  different  dogmatic 
system  had  the  thought-terms  of  today  been  current 
in  his  time.  But  these  are  peripheral  phases  of  his 
life;  its  center  is  his  loyalty  to  the  dictates  of  the 
Spirit.  This  is  first  and  always  the  quahty  of  Kfe 
which  he  regards  as  genuinely  Christian.  Everyone 
who  would  be  a  true  son  of  God  must  realize  in  per- 
sonal experience  the  leading  of  the  divine  Spirit. 

The  immediateness  of  the  Spirit's  authority  is 
a  prominent  feature  in  Paul's  religion.  We  might 
have  expected  to  find  this  trained  rabbi  resorting 
to  the  Old  Testament  revelation  for  the  authenti- 
cation of  his  faith;  and  indeed  this  is  what  we  do 
find,  but  we  soon  discover  that  his  convictions  were 
determined  primarily  by  a  vital  spiritual  experience 
in  the  light  of  which  all  past  revelations  were  newly 
interpreted.  We  cannot  today  regard  all  these 
reinterpretations  as  strictly  justifiable.  The  argu- 
ment from  seed  and  seeds  in  Galatians  is  hardly 
according  to  the  canons  of  modern  logic,  and  we 
think  Paul  has  gone  quite  contrary  to  the  intention 
of  the  Old  Testament  passage  when  he  tells  the 
Corinthians  that  the  Deuteronomic  injunction  'Hhou 
shalt  not  muzzle  the  ox"  was  given,  not  for  the  sake 
of  the  ox,  but  to  supply  Paul  with  a  proof-text  for 
his  contention  that  a  missionary  was  entitled  to 


154  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

support  from  the  churches  he  served.  Yet  we  do 
not  doubt  the  sincerity,  nor  even  the  vahdity,  of  the 
apostle's  convictions  on  the  practical  problems  of 
his  day,  notwithstanding  his  failure  always  to 
produce  adequate  scriptural  proof  for  his  position. 
The  voice  which  spoke  in  Paul's  own  soul  was 
his  chief  authentication.  There  were  many  things 
in  his  experience  about  which  the  Old  Testament 
said  nothing,  but  that  fact  did  not  discount  their 
significance.  His  first  task  was  to  learn  God's  will 
through  the  immediate  guidance  of  the  Spirit.  To 
defend  the  convictions  thus  obtained,  by  showing 
that  they  were  in  accord  with  past  interpretations 
of  the  divine  will,  was  a  problem  of  dialectics  not 
always  successfully  solved.  His  Judaizing  oppo- 
nents had  the  better  of  the  argument,  so  far 
as  producing  explicit  Old  Testament  support  for 
their  position  was  concerned,  but  Paul's  failure  in 
this  respect  does  not  detract  from  his  significance. 
It  rather  implies  that  he  had  attained  a  new  under- 
standing of  God's  purposes,  an  understanding  which 
transcended  that  of  the  earlier  days.  Consequently, 
the  ultimate  vindication  of  the  type  of  faith  he 
preached  was  not  to  be  found  in  an  array  of  proof- 
texts;  it  lay  rather  in  the  vital  effectiveness  of  the 
new  faith.  As  he  says  to  the  Galatians:  "This 
only  would  I  learn  of  you,  Received  ye  the  Spirit  by 
the  works  of  the  law  or  by  the  hearing  of  faith?" 
"He  that  supplieth  to  you  the  Spirit,  and  worketh 
miracles  among  you,  doeth  he  it  by  the  works  of  the 


Authority  of  the  Spirit  in  Paul's  Religion     155 

law  or  by  the  hearing  of  faith?''  Paul's  religious 
convictions  are  not,  in  the  first  instance,  derived 
from  objective  scriptural  postulates;  they  are  in- 
wardly attained.  Paul  probably  would  have  been 
less  effective  had  he  been  more  literally  scriptural. 

It  is  also  a  striking  fact  that  he  was  not  content 
to  be  guided  simply  by  the  opinions  of  those  who 
were  Christians  before  he  embraced  the  new  faith; 
nevertheless  he  did  seek  help  and  guidance  from  this 
source.  He  says  himself  that  on  one  occasion  he 
visited  Jerusalem  for  two  weeks  especially  to  see 
Peter;  but  on  a  question  of  conviction  affecting  the 
practical  efficiency  of  the  new  rehgion  in  the  gentile 
community  at  Antioch  he  resisted  Peter  to  the  face. 
Even  the  teaching  of  the  earthly  Jesus  was  not 
a  restrictive  norm  for  Paul's  ideas.  On  occasion  he 
does  show  that  this  teaching  appealed  to  him  strongly 
and  was  given  an  important  place  even  in  gentile 
communities,  as  when  he  reminded  the  Corinthians 
that  the  Lord  gave  charge  that  the  wife  should  not 
depart  from  her  husband,  but  where  Paul  had  no 
commandment  of  the  Lord  he  did  not  hesitate  to 
give  his  own  opinion  to  meet  the  necessities  of  a  new 
situation.  His  first  question  was  not.  What  does 
Christian  tradition  permit  me  to  believe  and  do? 
nor  even.  What  did  Jesus  enjoin  ?  but.  What  is  the 
will  of  the  Spirit  concerning  the  practical  problems 
of  my  Hfe  ?  This  once  determined,  the  opinions  of 
other  Christians,  the  teaching  of  Jesus,  as  well  as 
the  Old  Testament  records,  were  all  drawn  upon 


156  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

to  contribute  interpretatively   toward   the  under- 
standing and  enforcement  of  the  Spirit's  will. 

But  are  we  not  to  find  in  PauFs  unique  conver- 
sion an  objective  revelation  which  was  normative 
for  all  his  subsequent  thinking  and  conduct?  He 
attaches  great  worth  to  this  experience.  Yet  he 
does  not  claim  to  have  received  at  this  time  any  full 
stock  of  ideas  and  instructions  to  meet  all  his  later 
necessities.  His  conversion  marked  the  mere  begin- 
ning of  his  life  of  spiritual  attainment — the  moment 
of  his  first  realization  that  to  be  spiritually  minded 
was  true  life.  We  should  not  fail  to  appreciate  the 
value  of  this  experience  for  his  religious  life,  yet  we 
are  not  to  imagine  that  it  supplied  him  with  a 
detailed  program  for  future  activity  and  furnished 
him  an  itemized  set  of  dogmas  for  application  to  all 
new  questions.  Indeed,  he  did  not  picture  the 
Christian  Hf e  either  for  himself  or  for  others  as  some- 
thing handed  down  from  heaven  ready  made.  It 
was  to  be  reaHzed  through  daily  care  in  ascertaining 
and  following  the  dictates  of  the  Spirit.  Into  this 
struggle  to  learn  and  do  the  divine  wiU  Paul  threw 
himself  most  energetically  in  order  that  he  might 
at  last  find  approval  before  God. 

In  obtaining  the  Spirit's  guidance  Paul,  like 
others,  had  to  feel  his  way.  When  it  was  a  question 
of  choosing  a  mission  field  he  once  assayed  to  go 
into  Bithjniia,  but  ultimately  found  the  Spirit  lead- 
ing him  by  way  of  Troas  into  Macedonia;    again, 


Authority  of  the  Spirit  in  PauVs  Religion     157 

when  he  was  questioning  regarding  an  appropriate 
type  of  preaching  for  cultured  Greeks  he  tried  one 
style  of  discourse  at  Athens,  but  the  result  led  him 
to  choose  ^^ Jesus  Christ  and  him  crucified"  as  his 
sole  theme  henceforth,  whether  addressing  uncul- 
tured Asiatics  or  proud  Athenians;  again,  in  dealing 
with  the  recalcitrant  Corinthian  church,  it  seemed 
wisest  one  day  to  plan  a  personal  visit  to  Corinth, 
but  on  second  thought  it  seemed  best  to  write 
a  letter  instead;  and,  finally,  on  the  occasion  of  his 
last  visit  to  Jerusalem  he  thought  to  ward  off  oppo- 
sition by  taking  upon  himself  a  Jewish  vow,  but 
the  expedient  proved  to  be  all  in  vain. 

These  things  are  all  the  more  remarkable  in  the 
life  of  one  who  speaks  about  his  frequent  visions,  or 
about  acting  by  revelation.  Yet  in  spite  of  Paul's 
tendency  toward  mysticism  he  kept  his  feet  firmly 
planted  upon  the  real  world  in  which  he  was  living. 
Here  it  was  that  he  learned  his  duty;  the  cry  of  a 
needy  world  was  the  voice  of  God  calling  him  on  to 
service.  When  he  wrote  to  the  Galatians  that  he 
was  directed  by  revelation  to  go  up  to  Jerusalem  to 
obtain  an  understanding  with  the  primitive  church 
regarding  the  evangelization  of  the  Gentiles,  we  may 
be  sure  the  incentive  for  his  action  lay  in  just  that 
practical  interest  for  which  he  contended  at  the 
coimcil:  the  protection  of  his  gentile  converts  from 
disturbing  propagandists.  That  Paul  sought  divine 
guidance  in  this  as  in  all  his  problems  was  to  be 
expected.     The  significant  thing  is  that  he  did  not 


158  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

wait  for  his  problem  to  be  handed  down  from  the 
clouds  in  a  moment  of  ecstasy — he  found  it  in  the 
commonplace  world,  he  faced  its  demands  in  the  Hght 
of  his  soberest  judgments,  and  he  drew  upon  all  the 
possibilities  of  his  spiritual  vision  for  inspiration  in 
his  efforts  to  solve  it  correctly.  The  practical  needs 
of  the  time  were  most  distinctly  a  voice  of  the 
Spirit. 

Paul  saved  himself  from  freakishness  and 
impracticability  by  recognizing  the  fundamental 
activity  of  the  Spirit  in  the  normal  phases  of  life. 
Consequently  his  moral  sense,  the  demand  of  con- 
science, was  also  a  voice  of  God.  Even  the  Gentiles, 
though  they  had  not  had  the  advantages  of  moral 
training  under  the  Jewish  law,  heard  this  divine 
voice  whispering  in  their  ear,  but  for  Christians  its 
utterance  was  much  clearer  and  more  emphatic. 
Instead  of  spiritual  guidance  relieving  the  believer 
from  moral  obligations,  as  some  perverters  of  Paul- 
ine teaching  later  advocated,  the  apostle  himself 
insisted  rigidly  upon  the  fullest  moral  obligations 
as  an  essential  feature  of  the  richest  spiritual  life. 
No  one  who  followed  the  lusts  of  the  flesh  could 
rightfully  claim  to  have  the  Spirit's  guidance;  the 
enmity  between  the  flesh  and  the  Spirit  was  irrecon- 
cilable. Thus  the  dictates  of  conscience  were  in 
reality  a  revelation  of  the  divine  will. 

Similarly  Paul  regarded  his  normal  convictions  in 
general  as  expressions  of  the  Spirit's  will,  and  by 
a  life  of  loyalty  to  these  convictions  he  found  the 


Authority  of  the  Spirit  in  Paul's  Religion     159 

secret  of  future  guidance.  This  attitude  called  for 
heroic  action  at  many  points  in  his  career.  It  must 
have  cost  him  pain  to  oppose  Peter  in  Antioch,  espe- 
cially when  he  found  Barnabas,  his  former  associate 
in  missionary  work,  standing  with  Peter.  But  as  he 
remained  true  to  his  convictions,  defending  his  faith 
and  preaching  his  gospel  under  even  the  most 
adverse  circumstances,  his  vision  of  the  divine  will 
was  kept  undimmed  and  he  heard  the  Spirit  con- 
stantly calling  him  on  to  new  activities.  Loyalty 
to  the  convictions  of  today  resulted  in  new  con- 
victions for  tomorrow. 

Of  course  one  might  give  himself  up  to  the  power 
of  his  convictions  and  at  the  same  time  be  led  into 
extreme  vagaries.  Paul  saved  himself  from  this 
fate  by  combining  the  sane  balance  of  common- 
sense  along  with  his  thought  of  the  Spirit-filled  life. 
He  exhorted  the  Thessalonians  not  to  quench  the 
Spirit,  but  when  idlers  seemed  to  be  taking  advan- 
tage of  the  new  spiritual  brotherhood  Paul  wrote: 
"If  any  will  not  work  neither  let  him  eaf ;  and 
as  for  Paul's  own  conduct,  he  reminded  them  that 
he  had  labored  night  and  day  in  order  not  to  be  a 
financial  burden  to  the  church.  When  the  Corin- 
thians were  disposed  to  quibble  about  the  impossi- 
bility of  separating  themselves  from  all  evil  persons, 
and  so  were  seeking  indirectly  to  justify  their  lax 
morahty,  Paul  turned  upon  them  sharply  with  the 
command:  "Put  away  the  wicked  man  from  among 
yourselves.''    Evasive  sophistry  quickly  disappeared 


i6o  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

before  the  straightforward  demands  of  common- 
sense  backed  by  a  strong  moral  imperative. 

In  the  law  of  brotherly  love  Paul  seems  to  find 
one  of  the  clearest  indications  of  the  Spirit's  will. 
This  meant  for  him  the  complete  subordination  of 
all  self-interest  in  behalf  of  the  interests  of  others — 
it  was  a  voice  whose  commands  were  always  to  be 
heeded.  While  the  spiritual  life  in  Christ  was  one 
of  complete  liberty,  while  idols  were  nothing  and 
the  eating  of  meats  was  an  insignificant  matter,  yet 
if  the  exercise  of  Christian  liberty  caused  a  weak 
brother  to  stumble  Paul  would  "eat  no  flesh  for- 
evermore."  Spiritual  gifts  were  to  be  prized  highly 
and  to  be  sought  after  earnestly,  yet  the  thing  of 
greatest  importance  was  that  they  should  be  exer- 
cised in  a  spirit  of  love,  thus  avoiding  all  pride  and 
jealousy.  Speaking  in  a  tongue  was  a  commendable 
exercise  for  personal  edification,  and  Paul  was 
especially  endowed  with  this  gift,  but  he  preferred  to 
speak  five  words  with  his  understanding  for  the 
edification  of  his  hearers  than  to  speak  ten  thou- 
sand words  in  a  tongue. 

Paul's  was  distinctly  a  life  filled  and  guided  by 
the  Spirit  of  God,  the  life  of  a  true  son  of  God.  The 
same  possibility  of  spiritual  guidance  has  been  the 
privilege  of  Christians  in  every  age  and  is  their 
privilege  still.  But  as  in  Paul's  time  so  today,  such 
a  life  is  not  an  outright  gift  to  a  favored  few,  it  is 
an  attainment  available  for  the  few  or  for  the  many 


Authority  of  the  Spirit  in  Paul's  Religion     i6i 

who  are  willing  to  pay  the  price  of  attainment,  who 
are  willing  to  seek  after  and  follow  the  leading  of 
the  Spirit. 

But  where  and  how  shall  we  direct  our  search  ? 
In  Paul's  case  neither  the  Mosaic  revelation  nor 
the  opinions  of  the  primitive  Christians  constituted 
the  source  of  his  chief  inspiration;  he  was  not  con- 
tent with  anything  less  than  the  immediate  guid- 
ance of  God — a  guidance  which  he  discovered  in 
his  own  personal  experience  as  he  confronted  the 
pecuhar  problems  of  his  day.  We  should  not 
imagine  that  the  Spirit  speaks  to  us  today  only  from 
some  distant  age.  Records  of  men's  religious 
attainments  in  the  past  are  not  without  their  value; 
indeed  their  worth  is  often  very  great,  as  everyone 
knows  who  has  reflected  upon  the  admirable  qualities 
exemplified  in  the  lives  of  the  founders  of  our  reli- 
gion. But  we  must  do  more  than  simply  hark  back 
to  that  past  if  we  would  discover  the  will  of  God 
for  our  own  day.  When  we  have  gleaned  from  the 
yesterdays  all  that  they  have  to  give,  then  we  must 
turn  to  the  present  and  the  future  there  to  find  the 
ultimate  authority  for  our  religion,  as  the  Spirit 
speaks  through  the  demands  of  modern  life  and 
in  individual  religious  experience.  '^For  as  many  as 
are  led  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  these  are  sons  of  God." 

PRAYER 

Almighty  Father,  Creator  and  Lord  of  our  spirits: 
Grant  us,  we  beseech  thee,  a  daily  realization  of  thy 


1 62  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

nearness.  We  thank  thee  for  the  revelation  of  thyself 
which  comes  to  us  through  the  Spirit-filled  lives  of  thy 
servants  of  old.  We  thank  thee  that  thou  hast  per- 
mitted us  to  live  in  a  new  age  and  intrusted  us  with 
the  task  of  ministering  to  its  needs.  As  we  thy 
spiritual  children  consecrate  our  lives  to  this  service 
we  pray  for  guidance^  to  the  end  that  we  may  walk  in 
the  footsteps  of  the  prophets  and  apostles,  being  ever 
led  by  thy  Spirit.  This  we  pray  in  the  name  of 
thine  own  spiritual  son,  Jesus  of  Nazareth.    Amen. 


IX 
PRAYER 

BY 

EDWARD  SCRIBNER  AMES 


PRAYER 

I  will  pray  with  the  spirit,  and  I  will  pray  with  the 
understanding  also  (I  Cor.  14:15). 

Prayer  is  communication.  It  is  a  social  act. 
It  expresses  in  all  its  forms  the  essentially  social 
nature  of  the  human  mind  and  of  religious  activities. 
Man's  whole  life  has  grown  to  be  what  it  is  in  and 
through  a  social  order.  It  is  impossible  to  conceive 
of  man  as  a  totally  solitary  being.  A  human 
infant,  left  to  himself,  could  not  develop  into  a 
normal  personality.  To  be  sane  and  genuinely 
human  implies  social  relations.  The  very  soul  comes 
to  be  what  it  is  through  association  with  others. 
The  sense  of  dependence,  of  companionship,  of  grati- 
tude and  forgiveness  arises  between  persons.  This 
personal  and  social  life  is  extended  by  the  imagina- 
tion far  beyond  the  immediate  family  or  tribe.  It 
includes  material  things,  animals,  and  invisible 
powers  which  are  treated  in  many  ways  like  the 
conscious  members  of  the  human  group.  These 
are  personified,  given  names,  and  endowed  with 
human  qualities.  They  are  talked  to,  petitioned, 
and  commanded  like  living  people.  This  social 
life  easily  embraces  people  and  beings  who  are 
distant  or  deceased,  remote  ancestors  and  imaginary 
persons  without  number.  These  are  addressed  with 
speech  and  with  gifts  in  the  same  way  as  friends 

165 


1 66  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

greet  each  other,  and  as  subjects  approach  their 
king.  Speech  is  the  natural  means  of  communica- 
tion, and  it  is  the  commonest  vehicle  of  ideas, 
whether  or  not  these  ideas  are  addressed  to  persons 
immediately  present.  The  child  talks  to  his  toys. 
The  man  talks  to  his  horse  and  dog,  and,  though 
not  always  in  audible  words,  he  communes  with 
nature  and  with  her  myriad  forms.  Everyone 
talks  to  himself  at  times,  now  to  one  self,  now  to 
another.  One  seK  he  reproves,  another  he  praises 
and  implores.  Soliloquy  is  one  of  the  most  charac- 
teristic and  revealing  activities  of  the  mind.  Every 
individual  is  a  vast  and  intricate  complex  of  selves, 
which  reflects  his  varied  environment  and  experi- 
ence. Every  man  constantly  puts  over  against 
himseK  these  various  selves  and  keeps  company 
with  them  in  his  thought.  The  precise  way  in 
which  this  is  done,  the  degree  of  refinement,  of 
disillusionment,  of  self-consciousness,  varies  with 
the  level  of  experience  and  culture  and  with  indi- 
vidual temperament.  When  the  mental  life  is  crude 
and  feeble,  its  personifications  are  meager  and 
capricious.  Intercourse  with  them  is  whimsical  and 
superstitious.  But  when  the  mind  is  able  to  con- 
ceive steadily  a  Being  full  of  ideal  virtues,  having 
infinite  qualities  and  existence,  then  prayer  rises 
to  reverence  and  noble  aspiration. 

In  primitive  society,  prayer  is  a  magical  process. 
The  words  employed  in  religious  ceremonies  have 
mysterious   power.     A   Japanese   sword-maker,   in 


Prayer  167 

making  a  sword,  repeats  certain  prayers.  If  the 
process  is  not  successful  he  attributes  it  to  some 
defect  in  the  words  he  has  uttered  and  repeats  them 
with  greater  caution  for  another  trial.  The  words 
are  supposed  to  have  efficacy  with  the  metal  or  at 
least  with  the  spirits  who  control  it.  In  sympathetic 
magic  the  possession  of  a  man's  name  affords  power 
over  him  even  at  a  distance.  The  use  of  it  in  incan- 
tations may  cause  disease  or  death.  It  is  therefore 
difficult  to  learn  the  names  of  savages.  Often  they 
do  not  themselves  know  their  own  names,  which 
are  kept  secret  by  the  old  men  of  the  tribe  as  a  means 
of  protection.  In  such  societies  it  is  believed  that 
the  use  of  his  name  exerts  magical  power  over 
the  god  or  demon,  so  that  he  must  come  when 
his  name  is  correctly  pronounced  in  an  invoca- 
tion. The  improper  use  of  the  name  of  the  deity  is 
considered  dangerous.  The  Hebrews  would  not 
pronounce  the  name  Jehovah  in  ordinary  speech. 
Even  in  the  New  Testament  the  name  of  Christ 
is  used  sometimes  with  what  seems  to  be  a  reference 
to  magical  power.  Several  of  the  early  church 
Fathers  held  this  magical  view  of  the  name  of 
Christ,  and  prayers  are  still  said  "in  his  name'' 
and  "for  his  name's  sake,"  as  if  the  phrase  itself 
were  essential. 

Prayers  for  purely  individual  and  personal  in- 
terests are  scarcely  above  the  plane  of  magic.  They 
are  often  intended  to  procure  gifts  or  advantages 
regardless  of  the  conditions  and  processes  by  which 


1 68  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

alone  such  things  should  be  obtained.  The  child 
may  desire  a  pony  and  saddle  and  ask  God  for  them 
with  the  utmost  trust  and  simplicity.  He  may 
persist  in  the  request  many  days  and  look  wistfully 
out  of  the  window  every  morning  to  see  whether  he 
has  been  answered.  Prayers  ignoring  all  secondary 
causes  are  frequently  offered  by  mature  men  for 
very  worthy  objects.  Such  were  the  prayers  of 
George  Mliller  of  Bristol,  England,  who  carried  on 
vast  enterprises.  He  only  let  people  know  in  a  gen- 
eral way  what  he  undertook.  His  special  and  most 
urgent  appeals  were  to  God.  His  life  accomplished 
great  results  in  the  distribution  of  two  million  Bibles, 
the  equipment  of  hundreds  of  missionaries,  the  build- 
ing and  maintenance  of  five  large  orphanages,  and 
the  establishment  of  schools  in  which  over  a  hundred 
and  twenty-one  thousand  youthful  and  adult  pupils 
were  taught.  In  such  cases  the  natural  laws  are 
unconsciously  overlooked  in  magnifying  the  working 
of  supernatural  influences.  There  is  involved  here 
a  primitive  and  unscientific  conception  of  the  world 
and  of  God,  in  which  the  occasional  and  unknown 
phenomena  are  made  superior  to  the  regular,  law- 
abiding  experiences  of  common  life. 

But  there  is  a  type  of  prayer  in  which  a  nobler 
faith  utters  itself,  faith  in  the  divine  reason  and 
law  of  the  world,  which  calls  forth  expressions  of  the 
profoundest  gratitude,  of  dependence  and  need,  of 
aspiration  and  hope.  Prayer  of  this  kind  is  com- 
patible with  knowledge  and  experience.     It  is  con- 


Prayer  169 

sistent  with  the  teaching  of  psychology  that  all  ideas 
tend  to  issue  in  actions.  In  this  view,  prayer  is 
not  a  mere  exercise  of  sentiment  but  is  a  creative 
and  directing  activity.  It  accomplishes  results. 
The  thought  of  food  when  one  is  hungry  drives  one 
in  the  search  for  it.  The  sudden  cry  of  alarm  sets 
the  muscles  for  quick  response.  In  the  same  way 
intent  thought  of  any  kind  of  conduct  moves  the 
whole  being  toward  its  accomphshment.  There  is, 
therefore,  no  defiance  of  law,  no  false  mysticism  in 
the  statement  that  the  sincere  prayers  of  the  heart 
give  direction  and  energy  to  the  whole  life.  Hunger 
and  thirst  after  righteousness  lead  to  its  attainment. 
The  contemplation  of  the  divine  nature  tends  to 
the  reproduction  of  that  nature.  Distraction  and 
anxiety  give  place  to  repose  and  confidence  at  the 
thought  of  infinite  peace  and  strength.  Enmity  and 
strife  vanish  before  the  vision  of  God's  love  and 
forgiveness.  Indifference  and  selfish  ease  are  driven 
out  by  the  thought  of  the  patient,  eternal,  creative 
life  in  the  depths  of  nature  and  in  the  forward- 
moving  life  of  the  spirit.  One  becomes,  in  some 
degree,  like  that  which  he  admires.  The  presence 
of  an  ideal  is  the  promise  of  a  new  reality.  The 
human  mind  is  ever  throwing  out  before  itself  new 
goals  and  overtaking  them.  Prayer  is  an  expression 
of  this  onward  movement  of  the  soul.  It  is  the 
opening  of  the  mind  and  will  upon  a  larger  vision. 

There  is,  however,  a  constant  danger  that  prayer 
may  become  mere  form  or  sentiment.     It  has  to  be 


170  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

guarded  from  declining  into  "vain  repetition"  and 
"much  talking."  There  is  a  false  mysticism  in 
which  the  soul  is  wrought  to  a  fine  frenzy,  and  the 
natural  contact  with  reahty  is  lost.  The  usual 
tendencies  to  activity  are  overwhelmed  in  too  great 
a  flood  of  imagery,  or  fixed  too  intently  and  narrowly 
upon  one  idea.  That  faith  seems  very  exalted 
which  no  longer  needs  the  slow  and  tedious  pro- 
cesses of  ordinary  life.  The  mystical  tendency  in 
human  nature  wearies  of  law,  of  cause  and  effect, 
of  intermediate  steps  in  attaining  its  purposes. 
It  yearns  to  transcend  the  dull  path  of  the  plain 
pilgrim  and  find  some  direct,  immediate  access  to 
God.  But  every  venture  of  this  kind  ends  in  a 
clearer  recognition  of  the  necessity  of  work  as  well 
as  of  prayer.  Whenever  either  of  these  wings  of 
the  soul  is  unused,  the  only  course  possible  is  a 
circle  which  constantly  narrows  with  increased 
effort  and  ends  in  a  fall.  Prayer  without  work 
results  in  shallow  sentimentalism.  Work  without 
prayer  leads  to  blind  drudgery.  The  mind  cannot 
be  sound  without  the  activity  of  the  muscles.  All 
thought,  all  revery,  all  science,  all  art,  all  worship 
have  their  ultimate  significance  in  the  total  life- 
process  in  which  they  arise.  They  all  perish  when 
they  are  taken  out  of  this  inclusive  experience  of  the 
whole  nature  of  man. 

This  insufficiency  of  prayer  as  a  separate  thing 
is  emphasized  by  the  New  Testament  teaching  of  its 
dependence  upon  character.     It  is  the  prayer  of  the 


Prayer  171 

righteous  man  which  availeth  much.  And  here 
there  seems  to  be  a  circle;  for  prayer  has  been  pre- 
sented as  a  means  for  the  attainment  of  character, 
and  now  character  is  required  as  a  condition  of 
efficacious  prayer.  And  it  is  one  of  those  logical 
circles  which  must  be  accepted,  but  only  as  a  circle 
which  ever  expands.  It  means  that  prayer  must 
be  sincere.  It  must  express  the  truest  and  highest 
nature  one  possesses,  and  it  must  also  sincerely 
undertake  the  reahzation  in  ordinary  life  of  the  eleva- 
tion and  strength  gained  in  the  moment  of  devotion. 
Character  and  prayer  are  never  twice  the  same. 
They  grow.  Each  helps  the  other.  The  good  man 
gets  new  outlook,  new  ideals,  when  he  prays,  and 
thus  becomes  better  than  he  was;  while  the  prayer- 
ful man  tries  to  put  his  prayers  into  practice  and 
from  every  test  he  discovers  the  necessity  of  other 
prayers,  and  learns  better  how  to  pray.  The  right- 
eous man  is  the  earnest  man,  who  does  the  best  he 
knows,  and  continually  seeks  fuller  knowledge.  It 
is  doubtless  with  God  much  as  it  is  with  men  in 
heeding  and  answering  petitions.  Men  desire  to 
know  what  kind  of  a  heart  and  will  are  back  of  the 
requests  which  come  to  them.  An  honest,  indus- 
trious soul  gets  a  good  response;  and  then  if  he 
uses  well  what  he  gets,  he  increases  his  credit.  It 
is  reverent  to  believe  the  same  of  God  and  of  the 
moral  order  of  the  world. 

The  effects  of  prayer  should  be  studied  in  the 
light  of  its  nature  and  of  its  relation  to  work  and 


172  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

character.  Much  confusion  concerning  the  effects 
of  prayer  has  arisen  from  the  marvelous  way  in  which 
coincidences  are  continually  mistaken  for  cause  and 
effect.  Savages  and  civilized  men  are  likely  to  con- 
clude that  the  rain  which  comes  after  prayer  for  rain 
is  the  result  of  that  prayer.  All  adverse  facts  are 
easily  explained  away.  If  the  rain  does  not  come, 
then  the  prayer  was  not  earnest  enough  or  there 
remained  some  unknown  sin  which  prevented  the 
proper  influence.  The  prayers  may  be  continued 
for  a  longer  time  and  be  joined  in  by  more  people. 
This  is  interpreted  to  mean  the  exertion  of  greater 
influence  with  the  divine  Being  and  the  fact  is 
ignored  that  the  longer  the  "dry  spelP^  the  greater 
is  the  likeHhood  of  rain.  Among  the  natives  of 
Australia  the  rain-makers  are  careful  to  perform 
their  ceremonies  for  procuring  rain  just  at  the 
approach  of  the  rainy  season.  It  is  obvious  to 
modern  science,  and  even  to  ordinary  observation, 
that  rain  is  determined  by  certain  climatic  and 
meteorological  conditions.  In  the  tropics  of  Africa 
or  South  America  prayer  for  rain  any  morning  is  sure 
to  be  answered  before  night,  but  in  the  great  Sahara 
desert  no  prayer  for  rain  seems  effective.  The  only 
consistent  petition  for  a  shower  in  the  desert  would 
be  one  accompanied  by  some  great  engineering  plan 
for  the  removal  of  mountains,  the  irrigation  of  the 
district,  or  some  other  gigantic  effort  to  change  the 
very  structure  of  the  earth.  Nothing  is  gained  for 
the  cause  of  religion  by  the  attempt  to  put  it  in 


Prayer  173 

opposition  to  the  course  of  nature.  On  the  contrary, 
the  order  and  stability  of  the  physical  world  is  reason 
for  the  utmost  religious  gratitude  and  thanksgiving. 
Through  its  laws  it  may  gradually  be  controlled 
and  utilized  for  ethical  and  spiritual  ends.  No 
calamity  could  be  conceived  greater  than  that 
which  would  result  if  there  were  some  power  in  the 
universe  which  could  at  once  answer  all  the  con- 
flicting, though  devout,  prayers  which  pious  people 
offer. 

The  most  important  effects  of  prayer  are  pri- 
marily subjective.  There  are  doubtless  objective, 
material,  and  social  effects,  but  they  are  often  clearly 
the  indirect  and  secondary  results  of  subjective 
states.  This  is,  moreover,  the  conviction  of  people 
to  whom  prayer  is  a  most  important  and  real  ex- 
perience. In  a  recent  statistical  inquiry  among  a 
variety  of  persons  of  different  ages  and  tempera- 
ments, 83  per  cent  reported  that  they  believe  the 
results  of  prayer  to  be  wholly  subjective.  They  do 
not  discontinue  the  practice  on  that  account,  but 
declare  that  they  receive  power  through  it.  As  the 
religious  life  enlarges  and  is  refined,  it  emphasizes  the 
attitudes  of  resignation,  of  openness  to  instruction, 
of  co-operation  with  the  divine  will.  Petitional 
forms  of  prayer  become  less  conspicuous,  while  the 
sense  of  communion  and  of  contemplation  increases. 
The  petitions  which  do  persist  are  for  attitudes  of 
mind  and  dispositions  of  heart,  for  wisdom,  knowl- 
edge, sympathy,  and  love.     The  Christian  thinks 


174  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

of  God  as  having  the  character  and  goodness  of 
Christ,  and  he  therefore  seeks  in  prayer  to  gain  the 
mind  of  Christ,  to  have  his  spirit  and  devotion.  He 
seeks  to  imitate  the  Hf e  of  Christ  in  its  inner  gracious- 
ness,  simpHcity,  and  fidehty  to  truth.  In  such 
prayer  one  gains  self-control,  courage,  and  patience. 
The  striving  for  such  a  goal  brings  its  own  compensa- 
tions, its  comfort  and  strength. 

The  teachmg  and  example  of  Jesus  afford  cor- 
rectives to  puerile  and  extravagant  conceptions  of 
prayer.  In  the  prayer  which  he  taught  his  disciples 
he  put  the  emphasis  upon  seeking  spiritual  qualities 
of  life,  reverence,  resignation,  forgiveness,  and 
strength  against  temptation.  When  he  prayed  for 
his  disciples,  it  was  that  they  might  come  to  possess 
a  certain  disposition  and  oneness  of  mind.  It  was 
in  his  own  agony  that  his  habitual  prayer  became 
most  intense,  the  prayer  that  not  his  own,  but  the 
Father's  will,  might  be  done.  That  was  the  great 
achievement  of  his  inner  struggle.  Calvary  was 
only  the  outward,  physical  consequence  of  Geth- 
semane.  His  prayer  for  resignation  was  not  a  prayer 
for  release  from  labor  or  from  responsibihty.  It  was 
the  victory  over  himseff  in  which  he  attained  the 
complete  willingness  to  toil  and  suffer  at  his  task 
even  in  darkness  and  pain.  His  resignation  was 
not  indifference.  He  was  alert  and  faithful  to  the 
very  end.  In  that  hour  in  the  garden  he  revealed 
the  profound  depths  of  his  soul  and  disclosed  the 
secret  of  his  wonderful  life. 


Prayer  175 

But  this  uplift  of  mind  and  heart  in  prayer,  this 
ideal  companionship,  does  not  exhaust  itself  in  mere 
subjective  moods.  To  free  the  heart  from  anger, 
to  assuage  grief,  to  renew  courage  and  faith,  is  also 
to  produce  outward  results.  It  means  the  restraint 
of  violence,  the  recovery  of  peace,  and  the  will  to 
toil  and  endure.  Ideas  and  moods  are  seldom 
credited  with  sufficient  importance.  They  prompt 
and  guide  the  hands.  They  direct  the  feet.  They 
are  the  forerunners  and  creators  of  practical  ven- 
tures, conditioning  their  methods  and  results.  It 
requires  little  imagination  to  reahze  that  the  work- 
man whose  spirit  is  whole  and  sound  has  a  clearer 
mind  and  a  steadier  hand  for  his  work.  His  prayers 
may  therefore  increase  his  usefulness  and  his  wages. 
Statistics  indicate  that  patients  in  hospitals  who  are 
accustomed  to  pray  have  better  chances  of  recovery. 
The  explanation  which  the  medical  experts  give  is 
that  those  who  pray  do  not  so  easily  give  up  hope. 
They  are  calmer  and  submit  themselves  more  com- 
pletely to  the  physician^s  treatment.  The  sympa- 
thetic disposition  which  is  created  and  strengthened 
by  meditation  upon  the  friendship  and  neighborliness 
of  Jesus  promotes  kindlier  feelings  toward  one's 
fellows.  It  tends  to  remove  distrust  and  vindictive- 
ness,  and  to  create  a  nobler  social  order.  It  is  there- 
fore entirely  reasonable  to  pray  for  the  abolition  of 
war,  for  peace  between  capital  and  labor,  for  the 
evangelization  of  the  heathen  and  for  the  coming, 
in  many  ways,  of  the  kingdom  of  God  upon  the  earth. 


176  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

Through  the  effect  which  prayer  has  upon  the 
individual  and  upon  the  social  order  it  may  also 
extend  its  influence  to  physical  conditions.  When  a 
community  is  filled  with  a  common  ambition  it 
can  work  wonderful  changes.  It  can  close  and 
remove  buildings  used  for  immoral  purposes.  It 
can  change  the  course  of  rivers,  make  streams  flow 
underground,  create  lakes,  forests,  and  beautiful 
landscapes  where  before  were  swamps  and  thickets. 
It  can  remove  the  conditions  of  disease  and  make  the 
air  itself  purer.  It  can  enable  millions  of  people 
to  live  in  a  territory  where  only  scores  of  men  could 
live  in  a  "state  of  nature."  The  modifications 
in  the  physical  world  which  man  has  wrought  by 
intelligent  and  scientific  control  are  far  more  marvel- 
ous than  ever  occurred  in  all  the  long  ages  of  super- 
stition and  magic.  And  it  is  in  the  scientific 
control  of  life  that  prayer  has  its  demonstrable 
significance.  Science  depends  upon  the  working 
of  the  mind,  and  prayer,  as  here  conceived,  may 
condition  and  further  the  mind's  activity.  The 
"answers"  to  prayer  may  therefore  be  as  objective 
and  as  materialistic  as  are  the  effects  of  human 
thought  and  concerted  labor. 

I  have  spoken  of  the  different  grades  of  prayer 
and  of  its  effects.  It  may  seem  that  such  analysis 
and  definition  leave  the  experience  itself  unexpressed. 
To  some  minds  reflection  upon  these  intimate,  vital 
moods  appears  negative  and  irreverent.  Yet  in  the 
history  of  religion  those  most  adept  in  prayer  have 


Prayer  177 

often  been  its  wisest  critics.  The  great  mystics 
have  distinguished  different  planes  or  stages  of 
prayer  and  have  prescribed  the  means  of  ascent 
to  the  highest.  Jesus  forbade  his  disciples  the  use 
of  ostentatious  and  merely  formal  prayers,  and  gave 
them  a  model  of  direct  and  simple  devotion.  The 
apostle  Paul  insisted  that  prayer  should  be  intelligent 
and  reasonable  as  well  as  sincere  and  earnest.  He 
objected  to  prayer  offered  in  unintelligible  speech 
because  then  the  "understanding  is  unfruitful.'' 
It  was  his  desire  to  unite  devotion  and  reasonable- 
ness. "I  will  pray  with  the  spirit,  and  I  will  pray 
with  the  understanding  also,''  he  exclaimed. 

But  at  last  prayer  is  an  active  attitude.  It  is 
a  cry  of  the  soul,  an  appeal  of  the  will.  It  is  neither 
calculating  nor  self-conscious.  It  is  the  speech  of  the 
heart  in  an  ideal  companionship  of  mutual  faith 
and  trust.  It  is  the  child  talking  to  the  Father. 
It  is  the  beloved  revealing  her  heart  to  her  lover. 
It  is  the  throb  and  surge  of  the  heart  in  its  grief, 
its  anxiety,  its  hope.  It  is  the  craving  of  the  blind 
for  Hght,  of  the  hungry  for  bread,  of  the  oppressed 
for  justice,  of  the  weary  for  rest.  It  is  gratitude  for 
goodness.  It  is  thankfulness  for  gifts.  It  is  praise 
for  the  wonder  and  mystery  of  Ufe.  It  is  the  troubled, 
grateful,  aspiring  human  soul  speaking  to  God. 

One  who  has  neither  been  frightened  away  from 
the  inner  depths  of  his  being  by  the  scoffer  and  the 
skeptic,  nor  lost  the  way  thither  through  neglect, 
returns  there  in  all  experiences  for  renewal  and 


178  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

direction.  There  he  finds  symboKzed  highest  ideals 
of  duty,  clearest  words  of  truth,  and  loftiest  visions 
of  beauty.  He  talks  with  the  Great  Companion  as 
with  one  who  brings  new  meaning  into  the  day's 
tasks,  gives  rest  to  the  weary  and  heavy-laden,  and 
makes  the  yoke  easy  and  the  burden  light. 

PRAYER 

O  God,  thou  Great  Companion  of  our  hearts,  our 
fairest  vision  of  mercy  and  truth,  of  love  and  justice,  we 
commune  with  thee  in  all  our  ways  of  life.  In  thy 
presence,  as  from  a  noble  height,  we  behold  the  far- 
stretching  vistas  of  our  days:  great  things  become  great 
and  small  things  small.  In  the  warmth  of  great  love 
our  hearts  open  to  wisdom  and  beauty  and  move 
with  kindness  and  patient  sympathy.  Our  wills  are 
strengthened  toward  goodness  and  against  evil.  Our 
joy  is  multiplied  in  every  earnest  task  and  in  all  good 
pleasures.  With  thee  we  would  be  co-workers  to  redeem 
the  waste  places  within  and  without.  Renew  our  faith 
in  the  gracious  kingdom  of  love  and  righteousness  and 
may  we  have  the  will  of  Christ  to  labor  for  its  coming 
in  all  the  world.    Amen. 


THE  LIFE 

BY 

ALBION  WOODBURY  SMALL 


THE  LIFE 

In  him  was  life,  and  the  life  was  the  light  of  men 
(John  1:4). 

Suppose  we  try  to  imagine  the  wisest,  most 
unselfish,  most  far-seeing  man  that  could  be  made 
up  by  combining  the  best  and  strongest  poHtical 
quahties  which  were  present  in  the  best  and  strong- 
est of  our  American  presidents.  Suppose  the  most 
worthy  and  dependable  political  traits  of  Wash- 
ington, and  Jefferson,  and  Jackson,  and  Lincoln, 
and  Garfield,  and  Cleveland,  and  McKinley  were 
fused  into  one  political  prophet.  Suppose  that 
man  were  to  become  a  citizen  of  Servia,  or  Albania, 
or  Roumania,  or  Bulgaria.  Suppose  he  dedicated 
his  life  to  winning  the  Balkan  peoples  over  to  his 
political  standards. 

What  would  come  next  ?  Practically  just  what 
came  next  in  the  case  of  Jesus.  At  first,  while  he 
had  no  following,  he  would  be  ignored  as  a  harmless 
freak.  When  he  began  to  get  a  hearing  for  ideas 
not  in  favor  with  the  ruling  classes,  they  would 
put  him  in  the  list  of  political  suspects.  When  his 
influence  actually  became  embarrassing  to  the 
authorities  they  would  crucify  him.  In  later 
centuries,  after  the  Balkan  peoples  had  achieved 
less  barbarous  civilization,  and  had  perhaps  formed 
a   single   state,    they   might   revive   his   memory. 

181 


1 82  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

They  might  reconstruct  him  into  a  national  hero, 
like  Wilhelm  Tell  in  Switzerland.  They  might 
idealize  themselves  and  him  at  the  same  time  by 
using  him  as  the  symbol  of  all  their  supposed  national 
virtues. 

For  about  nineteen  hundred  years,  the  world 
that  calls  itself  Christian  has  been  trying,  by  any 
means  short  of  recognizing  the  literal  meaning  of  his 
crucifixion,  to  glorify  the  man  who  was  crucified. 
All  this  time  he  has  been  doing  for  this  same  hedging 
world  more  and  better  than  it  knew.  No  one  can 
foretell  how  long  it  must  be  yet  before  the  wisdom 
and  the  righteousness  of  this  world  may  arrive  at 
the  level  of  outlook  and  of  endeavor  which  Jesus 
represents. 

So  far  as  we  can  make  out  from  the  record, 
Jesus  was  the  most  impressive  combination  of  sane 
and  sincere  and  strenuous  living  that  has  occurred 
in  human  history.  The  sublime  simpHcity  of  the 
revelation  in  this  exhibit  has  been  beyond  our 
reach.  To  bring  it  within  our  range  we  have  tried 
a  multitude  of  magnifying  inventions.  The  best 
which  we  can  claim  as  a  result  is  that  we  have 
confused  the  spiritual  substance  with  a  countless 
variety  of  distracting  accidents. 

Several  years  ago  the  owner  of  an  orange  orchard 
in  Florida  proudly  led  me  to  the  show-piece  of  his 
estate.  It  was  a  tree  loaded  with  ripening  citrous 
fruit  of  more  different  kinds  than  I  had  ever  seen 
before.     The  owner  said  there  were  sixty  varieties 


The  Life  183 

growing  upon  the  one  stock.  That  tree  was  a  sym- 
bol of  Christendom  today.  Unnumbered  varieties 
of  rehgious  ideas  have  foimd  the  memory  of  the 
man  Jesus  a  stock  upon  which  to  graft  themselves, 
and  in  union  with  which  to  grow. 

In  what  I  have  now  to  say,  my  one  point  is  that 
Jesus  has  been  like  the  trunk  of  that  tree,  in  his 
relation  to  all  sorts  of  moral  and  spiritual  fruits. 
For  our  present  purpose,  I  am  not  concerned  with 
any  of  the  theological  theories  about  Jesus.  I  am 
trying  to  present  the  historical  fact  that,  since  the 
story  of  his  life  began  to  spread  over  nearer  Asia, 
and  Northern  Africa,  and  Southern  Europe,  Jesus 
has  been  a  vitaKzer  of  every  moral  and  religious 
growth  that  has  flourished  in  the  Western  World. 

It  is  plain  truth  that  this  fact  has  not  always 
been  on  its  face  to  the  credit  of  Jesus.  Up  to  the 
present  moment,  by  far  the  larger  part  of  the  reh- 
gious effort  of  Christian  men  and  women  has  been 
spent  in  grafting  either  undeveloped  or  over- 
developed or  wrongly  developed  branches  upon  the 
Christian  stock.  Human  nature  rarely  provided 
anything  else.  If  they  produced  at  all,  these  wild 
or  withered  branches  naturally  produced  after  their 
kind.  Accordmg  to  their  own  quaHty,  they  turned 
the  vitahty  of  the  stock  into  rank  or  insipid  fruit. 

These  positive  and  negative  phases  of  the  same 
fact  must  both  be  faced,  if  we  would  find  the  true 
value  of  either.  On  the  one  hand,  innumerable 
grades  of  rehgious  character,  innumerable  types  of 


184  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

religious  belief  have  drawn  strength  from  Jesus. 
On  the  other  hand,  for  their  own  purposes,  in  terms 
of  their  own  peculiarities,  these  types  of  rehgious 
belief  and  life  have  reconstructed  Jesus.  There  has 
been  a  different  Jesus  for  every  sectarian  group.  It 
is  as  though  each  of  the  sixty  varieties  of  citrous 
fruit  on  that  Florida  tree  had  alleged  of  the  stock 
upon  which  they  were  grafted,  "Its  sap  is  the  par- 
ticular grade  of  acidity  or  sweetness  which  marks  my 
character."  Throughout  the  Christian  centuries, 
every  man  of  rugged  religious  and  moral  impulses 
has  instinctively  claimed  Jesus  as  a  man  after  his 
own  heart.  He  has  attributed  to  Jesus  the  sort  of 
qualities  which  he  most  admired.  He  has  tended 
to  overlook  the  other  qualities,  and  to  misjudge 
the  balance  of  the  other  qualities  blended  in  Jesus' 
character. 

Now,  it  certainly  is  not  true  that  Jesus  would 
have  looked  with  equal  favor  upon  all  the  types  of 
moral  and  religious  belief  that  have  drawn  strength 
from  him.  It  certainly  is  not  true  that  all  the  ideas 
and  programs  which  claim  the  sanction  of  Jesus 
deserve  equal  favor  from  us.  The  central  fact  is 
that  Jesus  lived  a  convincing  life.  His  life  did  not 
convince  everybody  at  his  own  time.  It  has  not 
convinced  everybody  yet.  All  through  the  cen- 
turies, however,  it  has  more  than  held  its  own  while 
different  t3rpes  of  life  have  had  their  turn.  The 
sort  of  life  that  Jesus  lived  has  persistently  reasserted 
itself  as  the  appropriate  life  for  men.     It  wears.     It 


The  Life  185 

comes  out  of  comparison  with  other  qualities  of  life 
strengthened  in  its  prestige.  It  proves  to  sustain 
more  and  more  tests  of  experience.  It  dignifies 
and  vindicates  our  mysterious  human  career,  because 
that  kind  of  Hfe  more  and  more  aj6&rms  itself  as  the 
consummation  toward  which  all  mortal  interests 
move. 

In  a  word,  Jesus  lived  intensely,  humanly,  so- 
cially. We  are  growing  more  and  more  convinced 
that  this  is  living  genuinely,  spiritually,  eternally. 
At  all  events,  there  has  been,  so  to  speak,  a  con- 
tinuous transmission  of  blood  from  him  to  every 
man  with  spiritual  vitality  enough  to  be  stimulated 
by  this  life. 

From  beginning  to  end,  Jesus'  ministry  might 
be  described  as  a  variation  of  the  appeal:  Live  to 
the  full  those  qualities  and  policies  of  life  which  are 
healthy  and  health- giving.  Jesus  was  the  biggest 
reinforcement  that  the  spiritual  side  of  us  has  ever 
received  in  our  conflict  with  the  sensuous  side. 
He  was  the  biggest  reinforcement  which  our  social 
side  ever  received  against  our  selfish  side.  The 
sort  of  evidence  of  this  which  might  be  collected 
all  along  the  Christian  ages  is  of  a  kind  with  the 
challenge  of  St.  Paul  in  the  twelfth  chapter  of  the 
letter  to  the  Romans.  From  the  opening  note, 
'' present  your  bodies  a  living  sacrifice,"  to  the 
closing  refrain,  ''be  not  overcome  of  evil,  but  over- 
come evil  with  good,"  the  passage  is  a  bugle  call 
to  moral  campaigning  upon  an  advanced  frontier. 


1 86  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

The  Christian  appeal  has  always  been  from  the 
lower  in  us  to  the  higher,  from  the  selfish  and  the 
immediate  to  the  human  and  the  ultimate.  No 
loftier  ethical  note  has  ever  been  struck  than  the 
same  apostle's  rendering  of  the  Christian  exhorta- 
tion in  his  letter  to  the  Philippians,  ''Whatsoever 
things  are  true,  honorable,  just,  pure,  lovable,  repu- 
table, by  all  that  is  virtuous  and  praiseworthy,  pay 
attention  to  these  things." 

Jesus  was  consequently  full  of  the  spirit  of  dis- 
covery as  to  what  is  healthy  and  health-giving. 
Every  sort  and  condition  of  men  facing  moral  prob- 
lems have  felt  themselves  akin  with  his  attitude 
toward  problems.  More  life  and  better  life  was 
his  aim,  and  he  was  ready  to  scrap  former  rules  of 
life  whenever  he  found  them  hindering  more  than 
they  promoted  the  particular  expansion  of  life  then 
due.  When  he  lifted  the  law  of  the  Sabbath  to  its 
higher  moral  plane,  in  the  revolutionary  proclama- 
tion, ''The  Sabbath  was  made  for  man,  not  man 
for  the  Sabbath,''  he  at  the  same  time  set  the  pace 
for  exploration  of  a  whole  higher  moral  realm. 
Every  rule  and  every  institution  is  made  for  man, 
not  man  for  the  rule  or  the  institution.  This  was 
virtually  the  discovery  which  has  lately  been  redis- 
covered in  the  physical  world,  and  by  stimulation 
from  physical  science  it  has  assumed  the  place  of 
master-key  in  human  science.  The  most  crucial 
scientific  conception  today  is  that  of  function. 
Everything  physical  or  moral  is  first  stated  and 


The  Life  187 

then  appraised  as  a  term  in  a  system  of  cause  and 
effect  with  everything  else.  This  is  a  functional 
world.  The  indicated  business  of  this  world  is  to 
function  as  efficiently  as  possible  toward  the  most 
important  purpose  which  human  insight  can  dis- 
cover for  the  world — a  steady  output  of  men  and 
women  of  progressively  higher  quality.  Life,  more 
abounding  life,  was  the  title  of  Jesus'  vision,  and 
every  modernist  who  breaks  through  the  con- 
ventionaHties  that  obscure  the  real  Jesus  feels  that 
he  was  vital  with  that  explorative  spirit  toward  life 
which  commands  the  most  respect  today.  We  are 
partly  conscious  of  more  human  possibiUties  than 
we  have  reahzed  or  can  frame  rules  for  realizing. 
We  want  the  campaigns  of  human  achievement  to 
go  on.  We  want  every  limitation  to  human  achieve- 
ment to  be  swept  away.  We  want  every  resource 
for  human  achievement  to  be  opened  wide,  that 
this  crude  and  juvenile  humanity  in  us  now,  and 
which  will  be  in  many  generations  after  us,  may 
have  the  fullest  scope  to  become  its  destined  self. 
We  want  the  limited  ideals  and  the  partial  rules  for 
reahzing  them,  which  mark  the  successive  frontiers 
of  previous  human  achievement,  to  be  preserved 
and  remembered  as  way-marks  and  as  memorials 
of  brave  and  precious  pioneering,  but  we  refuse 
to  be  tied  to  them.  In  the  spirit  of  the  men  and 
women  who  reached  those  goals,  we  must  press  on 
toward  farther  goals  within  our  reach.  The  more 
whole-souled  we  are  in  this  resolve,  the  easier  it  is 


1 88  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

to  perceive  that  we  are  keeping  company  with  the 
spirit  of  Jesus. 

The  moment  we  attempt  to  define  the  quaHties 
which  made  the  character  of  Jesus  vital,  we  find 
ourselves  within  the  field  of  controversy.  No  two 
men  may  be  able  to  go  far  in  precise  agreement 
upon  definitions.  One  proposition  already  made 
in  another  form  is  safe,  however;  namely,  Jesus 
continually  signalized  elements  of  conduct  and 
character  which  the  intelligence  of  society  more  and 
more  tends  to  affirm,  and  which  the  conscience  of 
society  more  and  more  tends  to  indorse.  The  illus- 
tration which  contains  all  the  rest  is  his  standard 
of  individual  rights  and  duties:  "He  that  saveth 
his  life  shall  lose  it,"  and  all  that  goes  with  that 
conception  and  springs  from  it  in  the  career  of  Jesus. 
To  the  majority  of  people  up  to  the  present  moment 
the  conception  is  preposterous  and  unthinkable. 
On  the  other  hand,  scores  have  grown  into  hundreds 
and  thousands  and  millions  who  have  tried  faith- 
fully to  make  the  idea  their  rule  of  practice.  Slowly 
but  surely  the  wisdom  of  the  world  is  learning  that 
the  idea  rests  down  upon  the  basic  principle  of 
human  life.  Whether  we  like  it  or  not,  whether 
or  not  we  think  this  would  be  a  better  world  if  it 
were  built  on  a  different  principle,  the  fact  is  that 
this  human  world  is  a  scheme  of  the  exchange  of 
sacrifices.  The  world  lags  in  prosperity  because 
most  of  us  are  trying  to  evade  our  kind  and  quota 
of  the  sacrifice  which  gives   the  world   its  going 


The  Life  189 

power.  The  world  will  reach  the  crest  of  its  pros- 
perity when  we  learn  the  full  economy  of  each 
person's  sacrifice,  and  when  each  person  volunteers 
his  kind  of  sacrifice  for  the  good  of  the  whole. 

Meanwhile,  most  of  the  sacrifice  through  which 
the  world  is  approaching  self-knowledge  and  spirit- 
ual new  birth  is  involuntary.  Dr.  Edward  Judson 
quaintly  expressed  this  profound  truth  in  Boston 
the  other  day:  "If  we  succeed  without  suffering, 
it  is  because  someone  has  suffered  before  us;  if  we 
suffer  without  success,  it  is  because  someone  will 
succeed  after  us.''  Every  fire-escape  on  a  modern 
building  is  a  monument  to  the  thousands  of  men, 
women,  and  children  whose  lives  were  the  price  of 
our  present  means  of  escape  from  modern  buildings. 
Not  a  convenience  nor  a  comfort  of  modern  life 
that  was  not  bought  by  the  inconvenience  and 
discomfort  of  generations  that  did  their  work  uncon- 
sciously demonstrating  human  need  of  better  sup- 
phes.  Not  a  penny  of  wealth,  not  a  recourse  for 
the  relief  of  pain  or  the  prevention  or  healing  of  dis- 
ease, not  an  item  of  knowledge,  not  a  trifle  of  arti- 
ficial beauty,  not  a  perception  of  right  and  wrong, 
that  has  not  been  borne  to  us  on  a  tide  of  some- 
body's patience  and  toil  and  tears. 

When  men  fully  understand  the  world,  they 
will  understand  that  Jesus  was  right  about  sacrifice. 
They  will  understand  that  sacrifice  is  loss  only  so 
long  as  it  is  exceptional  and  forced.  When  we  face 
sacrifice  loyally,  when  we  join  in  a  general  economy 


190  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

of  sacrifice,  when  we  refuse  knowingly  to  gain 
except  by  intending  a  gain  for  somebody  else,  the 
balance  of  the  total  transactions  with  sacrifice  will 
have  passed  from  the  debit  to  the  credit  side  of  the 
world's  account.  This  is  a  vicarious  world.  Not 
as  stupidly  conceived  by  the  mediaeval  theologians 
who  located  the  one  vicarious  act  of  importance  in 
the  death  on  the  cross.  Life  is  vicarious  in  that 
its  processes  begin  and  continue  and  end  with 
exchanges  of  sacrifices,  wherever  there  are  moral 
beings. 

Summing  up  all  that  we  know  about  him,  some- 
thing like  this  seems  to  me  to  express  the  heart  of 
Jesus :  Life  is  an  infinitely  good  affair  if  we  can  only 
get  into  its  real  current.  Life  is  controlled  in  the 
long  run  hy  powers  which  are  bringing  greater  things 
to  pass  than  anyone  can  imagine.  The  secret  of  the 
successful  life  is  to  deal  loyally  with  the  great  encom- 
passing scheme  of  life — not  selfishly^  not  as  though 
each  of  us  transients  in  life  were  the  whole  of  life; 
not  sordidly,  as  though  the  more  transient  and  the 
more  trivial  parts  of  ourselves  were  standard  for 
our  whole  character  and  destiny.  Let  us  then  put 
our  utmost  candor  and  earnestness  into  life,  at  what- 
ever cost  to  our  temporary  and  partial  selves.  Thereby 
we  shall  find  our  real  selves,  and  we  shall  build  our- 
selves into  the  infinite  self. 

Most  of  the  varieties  of  religious  vagary  which 
have  grafted  themselves  upon  the  Christian  stock 
have  been  more  or  less  partial  and  petty  parodies 


The  Life  191 

of  this  vital  conception.  Perhaps  it  may  not  be 
said  with  truth  of  any  one  of  them  that  it  has  failed 
utterly  to  draw  life  from  the  Christian  current. 
The  vital  stream  from  which  Jesus  himself  got  his 
force  is  so  broad,  and  so  deep,  and  so  pure,  its 
energy  is  so  sincere,  that  human  crudity  has  ever 
since  been  obliged  to  reduce  its  volume,  and  to 
dilute  its  quahty,  before  it  could  be  even  partially 
turned  to  human  purposes. 

Jesus'  spiritualizing  of  life  is  so  thorough  that 
we  have  neither  intellectually  nor  morally  under- 
stood it.  On  the  contrary,  from  St.  Paul  down, 
there  has  been  a  countless  succession  of  substi- 
tutions of  intricate  theory  for  that  frank  loyalty 
to  the  unfoldings  of  the  higher  life  which  was  the 
substance  and  the  dynamic  of  Jesus'  character. 
Much  as  civihzation  owes  to  St.  Paul,  for  working 
out  a  philosophy  of  Christianity — a  theological 
scheme  for  the  conquest  of  the  world  by  the  spirit 
of  Jesus — ^yet  the  Pauline  factor  in  civilization  is 
to  the  more  essential  Christian  factor  as  a  spectrum 
analysis  is  to  sunHght.  The  one  is  a  fallible  attempt 
at  intellectual  comprehension.  The  other  is  the 
substantial  working  of  the  powers  to  be  compre- 
hended. 

We  may  voice  Jesus  further  in  this  way:  We 
live  at  our  highest^  we  live  in  closest  partnership 
with  all  that  is  most  durable,  when  we  enlist  for 
all  we  are  worth  in  realizing  the  best  that  is  visible 
to  us  in  the  way  of  worthy  living.    We  are  excluding 


192  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

ourselves  from  sharing  in  the  consummations  of 
life  in  the  degree  in  which  we  fail  to  live  out  that 
conception. 

Presented  to  a  selfish  world,  this  version  of  life 
could  not  escape  being  received  in  a  selfish  way. 
If  we  could  reduce  to  precise  words  the  exact  mental 
terms  of  behef  held  from  first  to  latest  by  the  vast 
majority  of  professing  Christians,  they  would 
exhibit  chiefly  impossible  confusions  of  unmoral 
or  immoral  ideas  huddled  around  crudely  selfish 
conceptions  of  individual  salvation.  There  has 
always  been  a  saving  element  of  spirituality  in 
people,  however,  which  has  been  better  than  their 
thinking.  Not  the  intellect,  but  the  heart  and  the 
conscience  of  Christendom  have  kept  historic 
Christianity  from  sterility.  There  has  been  more 
salvation  during  the  Christian  centuries  than  the 
creed-makers  could  understand.  Whatever  their 
intellectual  beliefs  about  themselves,  and  about  the 
scheme  of  things,  many  Christians  remembered  and 
unremembered  have  caught  some  of  the  spirit  of 
life  from  Jesus.  They  have  not  been  perfect  men 
and  women,  but  they  have  had  more  spiritual 
vitality  than  they  would  have  had  if  they  had  not 
sympathized  with  Jesus. 

St.  Paul  was  not  merely  a  Pharisee  with  a  new 
theory.  He  was  a  Pharisee  partly  un-Phariseed 
by  a  partly  spiritualized  conscience. 

St.  Augustine  was  not  merely  a  reformed  liber- 
tine.    He  was  a  reformed  libertine  with  a  vision  of 


The  Life  193 

a  spiritual  kingdom,  and  a  love  for  the  service  of 
that  kingdom. 

Loyola  was  not  merely  an  ignorant  and  savage 
soldier  tamed  and  turned  into  a  religious  zealot. 
He  was  an  ignorant  and  savage  soldier,  fighting  for 
the  things  that  an  ignorant  and  savage  soldier 
wants,  turned  into  a  less  ignorant  and  less  savage 
soldier,  fighting  with  different  weapons  for  things 
which  in  his  belief  were  the  needs  of  the  world. 

The  countless  company  of  simple  and  sincere 
followers  of  Jesus,  from  the  humblest  to  the  highest 
ranks  of  life,  have  seldom  been  either  saints  or 
sages  in  any  very  exacting  sense  of  those  words. 
They  "obtained  a  good  report  through  faith." 
They  rose  above  their  instinctive  selves.  They 
followed  the  "light  of  life"  into  paths  of  beneficent 
righteousness  toward  their  fellow-men,  into  which 
their  mental  penetration  could  not  have  led. 
Together,  these  real  "soldiers  of  the  cross"  have 
at  least  conquered  a  somewhat  effective  "truce  of 
God"  in  the  world,  if  they  have  not  yet  estab- 
Hshed  a  spiritual  kingdom. 

In  short,  the  vitahty  of  Jesus  was  a  social  germ 
in  a  selfish  world.  Lineal  fertilizing  from  that  germ 
is  progressive  mental  and  moral  appropriation  of 
the  truth  that  "selfish"  and  "spiritual"  are  con- 
tradictory ideas.  Life  cannot  be  genuinely  spirit- 
uahzed  that  is  not  genumely  socialized.  Nor 
should  there  be  any  confusion  here  with  "sociahsm" 
in  the  current  sense.     The  meaning  of  the  word 


194  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

"social"  today,  as  a  term  of  systematic  thinking,  is 
this:  "Social''  is  the  index  of  a  state  of  things  in  a 
given  group  of  persons,  whether  a  family,  an  industry, 
a  nation,  or  a  civilization,  in  which  there  would  be 
incessant  exchange  of  service  the  one  with  the 
other,  on  the  basis  of  recognition  that  all  the  persons 
in  the  group  are  plaui  human  beings,  and  that  the 
requirements  of  their  common  humanity  should  be 
the  decisive  factor  in  governing  the  conduct  of  each 
and  all.  "Socialism"  is  a  sectarianism  like  any 
other,  with  its  mixture  of  truth  and  error,  of  good 
motive  and  bad.  The  fundamental  truth,  which 
all  earnest  and  candid  people  in  Christendom  are 
groping  after,  is  that  the  human  career  is  a  com- 
munity affair,  and  must  be  taken  in  good  faith  by 
all  men  and  women  as  a  community  affair,  before 
men  and  women  will  have  adjusted  themselves  to 
spiritual  reaHty. 

A  generation  ago  children  in  many  religious 
groups  were  still  learning  from  various  catechisms 
versions  of  the  question  and  answer,  "What  is  the 
chief  end  of  man?"  "To  obey  God  and  enjoy 
him  forever."  Nothing  has  meanwhile  occurred  to 
impeach  the  substance  of  the  doctrine  thus  affirmed, 
but  much  has  occurred  to  require  insertion  of  more 
specific  bills  of  particulars  into  the  doctrine  than 
our  forefathers  required.  Today,  men  and  women 
who  piously  learned  that  answer,  and  who  still 
believe  it  symboHzes  the  truth,  are  equally  sure 
that  it  does  not  express  enough  of  the  truth.     In 


The  Life     ^  195 

their  homes,  and  schools,  and  religious  journals, 
and  churches,  as  well  as  on  the  street,  they  are  pass- 
ing along  the  same  tradition  in  less  religious  form 
but  with  richer  religious  content.  Today  vital 
Christianity  tends  more  and  more  to  voice  itself 
in  variations  of  the  creed:  The  literal  business  of 
the  Christian  life  is  to  keep  busy  establishing  the 
conditions  which  will  do  most  to  fill  the  world  with 
fitter  men  and  women— fitter  physically,  fitter  mentally , 
fitter  morally,  fitter  spiritually. 

This  marriage  of  the  spiritual  and  the  social 
renderings  of  Hfe  is  producing  a  distinctly  modern 
type  of  faith. 

If  I  may  venture  a  personal  confession,  my  own 
famihar  Pillar  of  Fire  and  Pillar  of  Cloud,  in  this 
wandering  toward  the  Kingdom,  is  a  vision  of  the 
American  religion.  As  it  invites  me,  it  is  not  pre- 
sumptuous with  the  conceit  that  it  has  opened  new 
sources  of  knowledge  and  interpretation;  nor,  on  the 
other  hand,  is  it  arrogant  with  the  affectation  that 
it  is  superior  to  the  homely  needs  of  human  beings. 
It  is  not  a  sectarianism  that  has  triumphed  over 
competing  sects,  nor  is  it  an  indifferentism  which  is 
stirred  by  none  of  the  problems  that  make  sects. 
The  Jew,  the  Catholic,  and  the  Protestant  might 
each  in  time  learn  that,  in  a  true  sense,  this  religion 
is  both  the  trunk  from  which  his  peculiar  faith  has 
spread,  and  that  it  may  also  be  a  branch  grafted 
upon  his  special  type  of  behef.  Each  might  con- 
tribute to  his  rendering  of  this  common  religion  all 


196  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

the  spiritual  force  there  is  in  his  distinctive  creed. 
The  documents  of  this  rehgion  are  every  scripture, 
canonical  and  uncanonical,  in  which  a  seeker  after 
God  or  an  avoider  of  God  has  set  down  an  authentic 
truth  encountered  in  the  experience  of  either.  Its 
ceremonial  is  not  a  single  prescribed  ritual.  It  is 
every  outward  form  of  worship  by  means  of  which 
anyone  feels  himself  brought  nearer  to  God  and  to 
his  fellow-men.  Its  polity  is  the  concerted  purpose 
of  every  American,  to  join  in  a  perpetual  league  for 
finding  out  the  quahty  and  program  of  life  which 
gives  sincerest  heed  to  the  spiritual  possibilities 
in  every  one  of  us.  Its  work  is  dedication  to 
an  ideal  of  life  in  which  each  shall  give  his  best 
to  all  the  others,  and  receive  their  best  from  all  the 
others  in  promoting  a  method  of  life  in  which  our 
dealings  one  with  another,  from  the  most  trivial 
individual  act  to  the  most  momentous  pubKc  policy, 
shall  do  all  that  is  possible  toward  realizing  the 
most  and  the  highest  of  which  each  and  all  of  us  are 
capable.  Its  last  appraisable  outcome  will  be  the 
utmost  refining  of  our  spirits  for  everything  which 
may  hereafter  answer  to  our  most  aspiring  thought 
of  "the  inheritance  of  the  saints  in  light.''  I  do 
not  know  of  anything  short  of  the  American  reli- 
gion which  can  be  more  than  a  settlement  of  pre- 
liminaries to  the  genuinizing  of  our  Hves. 

It  is  a  feeble  travesty  of  the  religion  of  Jesus 
which  does  not  find  in  the  human  process  equally 
necessary  divisions  of  labor  for  the  evangelist  and 


The  Life  197 

for  the  sociologist.  If  it  had  no  other  support,  this 
is  elementary  social  psychology.  Those  evangel- 
ists and  sociologists  are  mental  and  moral  infants 
who  can  discern  no  big  spiritual  process  which 
requires  their  co-operation.  My  emphasis  is  inten- 
tionally and  properly  upon  aspects  of  the  outlook 
which  are  most  prominent  from  my  own  professional 
viewpoint.  "Except  ye  be  converted''  and  become 
loyal  citizens  of  the  Kingdom  of  God,  there  can  be 
no  Kingdom  of  God  for  your  citizenship.  On  the 
other  hand  this  being  "converted"  means  some- 
thing more  than  exchanging  indifference  to  being 
"damned''  for  preference  to  be  "saved."  I  am 
therefore  incidentally  emphasizing  this  qualification 
by  speaking  primarily  for  the  Kingdom  side  rather 
than  for  the  citizenship  side. 

I  have  taken  special  care  to  speak  as  though 
neither  I  nor  those  whom  I  address  had  ever  heard  of 
theology,  except  as  a  division  of  historical  exhibits. 
I  have  intentionally  avoided  all  attempt  to  square 
what  I  have  said  with  any  formal  religious  creed 
whatever.  I  have  simply  tried  to  compress  into 
these  few  moments  the  moving  picture  that  every 
candid  student  of  history  sees  when  he  fixes  his 
attention  on  the  kind  of  influence  which  Jesus  has 
exerted  during  the  latest  nineteen  centuries. 

No  one  has  fairly  started  toward  an  understand- 
ing of  the  painter's  art  until  he  has  learned  to  appre- 
ciate Raphael  both  as  a  climax  and  as  an  inspiration 
of  aesthetic  impulse. 


igS  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

No  one  can  have  gone  very  far  toward  appre- 
ciating past  and  possible  expression  of  religious 
aspiration  through  music,  without  having  formed 
his  standards  by  acquaintance  with  Bach  and 
Mozart  and  Beethoven. 

No  one  knows  very  much  more  than  the  word 
"science,"  who  has  not  acquired  some  of  the  habits 
of  science  which  have  been  taught  to  a  few  by  the 
great  searchers  for  physical  and  human  truth,  the 
Lavoisiers  and  the  Rankes  and  the  Darwins. 

No  one  has  passed  the  primary  grades  in  weigh- 
ing and  measuring  and  projecting  life,  with  propor- 
tional valuation  of  all  its  meanings,  until  he  has 
begun  to  learn  Hfe  in  the  school  of  Jesus.  "In  him 
was  life,  and  the  life  was  the  light  of  men." 

PRAYER 

Our  heavenly  Father:  We  thank  thee  that  we  do 
not  have  to  force  ourselves  to  think  of  thee.  We  thank 
thee  that  thou  art  a  part  of  our  every  thought.  When 
we  want  thee,  thou  art  not  far  from  every  one  of  us. 
When  we  turn  away  from  thee,  we  are  quickly  reminded 
of  thy  presence.  We  thank  thee  that  thou  art  with 
us,  sometimes  most  impressively,  when  we  are  trying 
hardest  to  he  alone.  We  thank  thee  that,  whatever 
our  need,  we  have  found  recourse  in  thee.  Whenever 
we  have  been  in  moods  like  those  of  little  children,  we 
have  found  refuge  in  thee  as  a  parent.  Whenever  we 
have  been  stricken  or  smitten  with  the  heavier  sorrows 


The  Life  199 

or  stripes  that  fall  to  the  lot  of  older  men  and  women, 
we  have  found  comfort  and  healing  in  thee.  When- 
ever we  have  been  most  confident  and  inclined  to 
arrogance,  we  have  presently  been  reproved  and  cor- 
rected by  finding  that,  at  our  utmost,  we  are  still 
limited  by   the  thought  of  God. 

We  come  to  thee  now  as  men  and  women  charged 
each  with  a  part  of  the  work  of  the  world.  Compared 
with  thine  eternity,  we  are  creatures  of  a  moment. 
Compared  with  thy  providence  and  resources,  we  are 
futile.  Yet  among  our  fellow-men,  for  the  brief  space 
of  our  working  years,  we  are  trustees.  To  each  of  us 
is  committed  some  important  task,  perhaps  tasks  of 
several  different  kinds.  Thy  mil  is  to  be  done  through 
us,  perhaps  in  more  than  one  way.  Wilt  thou  then 
enable  us  to  see  our  service,  which  might  otherwise 
seem  trivial  and  irksome,  in  such  light  as  part  of  thy 
design  that  it  may  be  glorified.  With  every  enlarge- 
ment and  enrichment  of  our  thoughts  about  the  meaning 
of  life,  may  we  increase  in  ability  to  think  of  thee,  and 
to  act  toward  thee,  as  the  Master  Workman,  the  Archi- 
tect of  time  and  eternity,  with  a  place  in  thine  infinite 
plan  for  the  best  that  each  of  us  can  perform.  Espe- 
cially may  we  learn  to  trace  thy  purpose,  not  apart 
from  the  human  beings  with  whom  we  live  and  move, 
but  first  and  foremost  in  everything  that  we  can  under- 
stand about  possibilities  of  edifying  one  another^ s 
lives. 

In  the  fellowship  of  him  who  discovered  the  Heavenly 
Father  as  the  Eternal  Worker.    Amen. 


XI 

THE  VOICE  OF  GOD 

BY 

BENJAMIN  ALLEN  GREENE 


THE  VOICE  OF  GOD 

Thus  saith  Jehovah  (Amos  1:3). 

Our  Bible  is  a  great  book,  crowded  with  the  say- 
ings of  the  ages.  It  is  full  to  the  brim  and  running 
over  with  every  variety  of  strong  statement.  Here 
are  disclosed  the  deeps  of  profound  feeling,  marvelous 
outreach  of  thought,  the  surrounding  mystery  of 
life,  the  reaction  of  the  visible  world  on  the  soul  com- 
pelling it  to  form  judgments,  the  vivid  realization 
of  inescapable  law,  the  pushing  on  through  three 
score  years  and  ten  and  seeing  judgments  pronounced 
on  conduct  as  unmistakable  as  those  declared  in  a 
human  court  of  justice;  and,  all  the  while,  the  possi- 
bility of  a  man  shutting  his  eyes,  going  back  into 
his  own  moral  being,  and  hearing  voices  which  he 
knows  belong  to  the  eternal  world  of  reality. 

This  is  the  large  sweep  of  the  Bible.  It  is  the 
gathering  up  of  a  literature  extending  over  a  thou- 
sand years,  in  which  a  reverent  people  are  seen 
seeking  after  God,  and  in  which  God  is  making  him- 
self felt  and  feared  and  loved  and  worshiped.  There 
is  great  loss  when  we  do  not  understand  the  Bible 
in  that  way.  We  are  not  to  pull  down  this  volume 
to  our  little  verse-by-verse  narrowness — culled  verses 
at  that. 

It  is  a  big  w^orld-book.  It  has  in  it  a  world  of 
literature;    every  level  of  expression,  from  simple 

203 


204  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

prose,  matter-of-fact  statement,  to  the  most  daring 
reaches  of  metaphor  and  hyperbole.  The  strong 
statement  here  and  there  is  the  endeavor  of  the  soul, 
just  at  that  point,  to  give  expression  to  itself  in  the 
presence  of  a  great,  mysterious  fact:  too  great  to  be 
completely  compassed,  but  so  real,  at  this  one  point 
of  contact,  as  to  be  declared  and  emphasized  with 
all  the  passion  of  conviction  and  with  all  the  freedom 
of  utterance  which  belongs  to  genuine  spontaneity. 

There  are  two  distinct  levels  of  teaching,  and  they 
belong  to  two  orders  of  fact.  The  two  orders  of  fact 
are:  (i)  the  visible,  tangible,  material  world;  the 
world  of  flesh  and  vocal  speech  and  eye  perception; 
(2)  the  invisible,  immaterial  world;  the  world  of 
spirit,  of  vision,  and  conviction.  My  body,  with 
hands  and  feet,  with  lips  and  ears  and  eyes,  belongs 
to  the  first  order.  My  soul,  with  power  of  thought, 
feeling,  will,  with  its  sense  of  dependence,  and  its 
capacity  for  moral  discernment  and  adoration  of 
God,  belongs  to  the  second. 

Sometimes  the  language  of  the  Bible  keeps  up 
within  the  second  level.  For  example,  it  says,  "  God 
is  a  Spirit;  they  that  worship  him  must  worship  in 
spirit  ....  whom  no  man  hath  seen  nor  can  see 
....  ye  have  neither  heard  his  voice  at  any  time 
nor  seen  his  shape.''  This  is  the  high,  spiritual-level 
language  of  the  New  Testament.  And,  in  the  Old 
Testament,  it  is  equally  expHcit:  "He  maketh  dark- 
ness his  secret  place  ....  I  go  forward,  but  he  is  not 
there;  and  backward,  but  I  cannot  perceive  him;  on 


The  Voice  of  God  205 

the  left  hand  where  he  doth  work,  but  I  cannot  be- 
hold him;  he  hideth  himself  on  the  right  hand  that 
I  cannot  see  him."  And  Moses,  right  in  the  midst 
of  very  different  language,  represents  God  as  saying, 
"Thou  canst  not  see  my  face;  for  no  man  can  see 
me  and  live."  The  Bible  speaks  of  God  as  the 
King  eternal,  immortal,  invisible,  but  asserts  most 
emphatically  that  he  has  a  way  of  making 
himself  known  to  men  in  the  flesh.  How? — being 
understood,  spiritually  discerned,  by  the  things 
that  are  made,  even  his  eternal  power  and 
Godhead. 

So,  we  have  this  paradox — what  some  small 
critics  call  this  contradiction — in  Scripture:  "We 
look,  not  at  the  things  which  are  seen,  but  at  the 
things  which  are  not  seen;  for  the  things  which  are 
seen  are  temporal  but  the  things  which  are  not  seen 
are  eternal." 

These  are  the  two  levels  of  fact,  the  natural  and 
the  spiritual;  or,  in  other  words,  the  visible  and  the 
invisible,  the  audible  and  the  inaudible.  Some- 
times the  Bible  uses  the  language  of  the  one  level 
and  sometimes  that  of  the  other;  for  the  most  part, 
that  of  the  visible,  audible,  material.  Whenever 
the  phraseology  drops  down  to  that  lower  range  of 
speech,  it  is  always  speaking  figuratively.  To  eat 
the  bread  of  life;  to  walk  with  God;  to  taste  and 
see  that  the  Lord  is  good;  to  hear  the  voice  of  God; 
these  are  all  figures  of  speech.  They  are  now;  they 
always  have  been. 


2o6  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

The  Bible,  itself,  says  so,  in  discrimination.  And 
yet  we  have  confused  the  use  of  Bible  language. 
When  it  is  emphatically  teaching  spiritual  truth,  it 
insists  that  the  everyday,  conversational  use  of 
language  be  interpreted  in  the  light  of  corresponding 
teaching  in  the  spiritual  level.  ^'No  man  hath  seen 
God  at  any  time."  ^'Eye  hath  not  seen  nor  ear 
heard."  "God  reveals  by  his  Spirit."  "Spiritual 
things  are  spiritually  discerned." 

The  language  of  eating  and  drinking,  of  tasting 
and  seeing  and  hearing,  is  used,  because  we  under- 
stand that  well.  We  know  what  the  relish  of  food 
is,  and  the  strength  which  eating  imparts.  Taste 
gives  us  a  juicy,  palatable  knowledge  of  the  interior 
quahties  of  fruit.  When  we  see  a  face,  when  glance 
catches  glance  and  eye  looks  deep  into  eye,  there  is 
a  consciousness  of  presence  not  felt  before.  And 
when  we  hear  a  voice  speak,  we  know  we  are  getting 
the  thought,  the  desire,  the  purpose  of  the  speaker. 
These  things  we  know  well  in  physical  experience 
and  human  fellowship.  The  language  of  these  is 
seized  upon  to  express  corresponding  experiences 
in  spiritual  satisfaction  and  fellowship  with  God. 
It  is  speech  on  the  lower  level  trying  to  hint  at  the 
more  exalted  things  in  the  higher. 

It  is  so  in  the  Bible,  as  it  is  today  in  common 
usage.  And  yet  we  read  the  lower-level  language 
of  the  Scripture,  especially  in  the  Old  Testament, 
and  we  think  we  are  at  such  disadvantage,  as  com- 
pared with  men  in  earlier  times.     Then,  "  they  heard 


The  Voice  of  God  207 

the  voice  of  the  Lord  God  walking  in  the  garden  in 
the  cool  of  the  day."  But  of  course  all  that  language 
is  to  be  interpreted  in  the  light  of  that  after-phrase, 
found  plentifully  enough  in  the  New  Testament,  and 
intended  to  be  in  vogue  today:  "Walk  by  faith"; 
"Walk  in  the  Spirit";  "Walk  in  the  Lord."  It 
means  that  God  and  man  come  so  near  to  each 
other  that  man  knows  it,  as  surely  as  he  knows  the 
footfall  of  a  friend  and  the  accent  of  his  voice.  In 
the  same  way  God  is  walking,  and  his  voice  is  heard 
in  the  cool  of  the  days  of  this  twentieth  century. 
Evening  shades  make  many  a  man  think  of  God. 
His  voice  makes  itself  heard  when  all  other  voices 
have  died  down.  Adam  had  no  advantage  over  man 
today. 

And  then  you  hear  people  say,  "Oh,  if  I  only 
could  be  certain;  if  I  had  a  ^Thus  saith  the  Lord,' 
as  they  had  in  the  times  of  Moses  and  the  prophets!" 
And  they  will  cite  you  all  that  conversational 
familiarity  of  speech,  as  though  it  were  in  the  higher 
realm  of  privilege,  and  we  were  living  down  in  the 
valley  of  commonplace.  It  is  a  misapprehension, 
a  misinterpretation  from  start  to  finish.  In  an 
English  story  there  is  a  picture  of  a  nineteenth- 
century  hero  journeying  to  Mount  Sinai,  prostrat- 
ing himself  on  its  bald  summit,  and  crying  for  a  new 
revelation:  "a  pathetic,  if  overdrawn  illustration," 
says  Brierly,  "of  the  soul's  ceaseless  desire  for  some 
authentic  utterance  to  it  from  heaven."  It  is  on 
a  par  with  the  passionate  desire  of  the  crusaders  who 


2o8  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

thought  if  they  could  only  get  to  the  Palestine 
grave  of  our  Lord,  some  miraculous  help  would 
come.  There  was  already  laid  up  for  them  the 
question,  *'Why  seek  ye  the  living  among  the 
dead?" 

The  whole  teaching  of  the  Bible  from  the  time 
of  Moses  to  that  of  Christ  is  a  progress,  a  develop- 
ment, a  better  understanding  of  God's  will.  "Thus 
saith  the  Lord"  did  not  measure  absolute  certainty 
and  completeness  on  the  divine  side,  but  partial 
apprehension  of  the  divine  will  on  the  human  side. 
The  prophets  came,  after  Moses,  with  their  increase 
of  emphasis  on  the  moral.  And  Christ  came  still 
later;  he  lifted  the  whole  range  of  teaching  to  a 
loftier,  more  spiritual  level.  We  listen  and  we  hear 
Christ  say,  Moses  said  this  and  that,  he  suffered 
some  things  because  of  the  people's  hardness  of 
heart  and  the  brutality  of  the  times,  but  I  say  unto 
you  something  deeper  and  wider.  It  is  in  the  spirit 
of  Christ  when  Paul  says,  "The  times  of  that  ignor- 
ance in  those  days  God  winked  at,  but  in  these  days, 
now,  he  commandeth  men  everywhere  to  repent." 
Talk  about  law  written  on  tables  of  stone  by  the 
finger  of  God,  as  though  that  language  meant  more 
than  its  possible  meaning  today !  What  can  it  mean 
in  the  light  of  Jesus'  subsequent  comment?  The 
prophets  themselves  said  that  the  conception  be- 
longed to  a  crude  age.  The  time  is  coming,  declares 
Jeremiah,  and  he  also  prefaces  his  saying  with  a 
"Thus  saith  the  Lord,"  when  "I  will  put  my  law 


The  Voice  of  God  209 

in  their  inward  parts  and  write  it  in  their  hearts; 
and  will  be  their  God  and  they  shall  be  my  people/' 
Is  not  writing  on  heart  tablets  an  advance  over 
writing  on  stone  tablets  ? 

"Thus  saith  the  Lord."  Does  that  use  of  lan- 
guage in  Old  Testament  times  mean  greater  certainty, 
closer  relationship  to  God,  and  surer  apprehension 
of  his  will  than  we  have  in  these  days  ?  Let  Christ 
himself  pronounce  upon  this.  He  said,  "Among 
them  born  of  women,  there  hath  not  risen  a  greater 
than  John  the  Baptist;  and  yet  he  that  is  least  in 
the  kingdom  of  God  is  greater  than  he'';  his  Ught 
is  greater;  his  apprehension  of  God's  will  and 
purpose  clearer. 

"Thus  saith  the  Lord"  did  not  mean  outside, 
vocahzed  breath,  but  inside  personal  conviction. 
God  was  speaking  to  the  heart  and  mind  and 
conscience.  The  prophet  Hstened  with  the  inner 
ear,  and  when  he  was  full  of  pent-up  conviction 
that  he  had  discovered  the  Divine  will,  he  burst 
forth  with  that  formula,  "Thus  saith  the  Lord." 
And  in  that  name  he  said  to  the  people,  "Give 
up  this  selfishness,  this  jealousy  and  fighting,  this 
drifting  toward  the  world;  sweep  out  this  vileness 
from  your  thinking,  and  get  you  a  clean,  pure 
heart  in  the  sight  of  your  Maker."  When  the 
prophet  said  that,  he  knew  God  would  have  him 
say  it. 

There  are  two  scriptures  I  wish  to  cite,  one  from 
the  Old  Testament  and  one  from  the  New  Testament, 


2IO  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

which  give  to  us  a  good,  intelligent,  spiritual  concep- 
tion of  what  the  voice  of  God  means.  In  Psalm  27 
we  read,  "When  thou  saidst,  seek  ye  my  face,  my 
heart  said  imto  thee,  thy  face.  Lord,  will  I  seek." 
It  is  the  heart  of  the  Psalmist  that  responds.  He 
heard  the  message  in  his  heart,  a  whisper-drawing 
of  the  Almighty.  It  was  face-to-face  fellowship  in 
the  soul.  That  is  what  the  entreaty-voice  of  God 
meant  in  olden  times;  a  voice  within  and  behind  all 
other  voices.  Isaiah  puts  it  in  a  little  different  way, 
but  it  means  the  same  thing:  ''Thine  ears  shall 
hear  a  word  behind  thee  saying.  This  is  the  way, 
walk  ye  in  it."  Conviction  of  the  right  is  made 
so  strong  that  it  seems  as  if  a  voice  were  actually 
speaking,  the  voice  of  someone  close  by  but  out  of 
sight.  And  that  is  the  experience  of  men  today 
who  shut  their  eyes  in  prayer  and  hsten  for  the 
whisper  of  God's  direction — that  attitude,  that 
waiting,  that  genuine  desire  to  know  God's  will, 
when  we  have  done  our  best;  until,  by  and  by, 
conviction  grows  out  of  nebulous  questioning  into 
assurance  of  duty.  Here,  for  example,  is  a  man 
disquieted,  distressed;  life's  harassing  cares  and 
cross-purposes,  and,  added  to  all  else,  men's  stinging 
criticisms,  have  come  in  upon  him.  In  the  midst  of 
it  he  hears  this  sentence,  "Thou  wilt  keep  him  in 
peace,  peace,  whose  mind  is  stayed  on  thee."  Then, 
thrilling  through  the  vocal  utterance,  as  electric 
message  leaps  through  the  copper  wire,  there  comes 
an  assurance  which  his  soul  recognizes  as  pledge 


The  Voice  of  God  211 

and  promise  from  the  Eternal;  and  he  steps  out 
into  the  calm  of  noble,  sweet-spirited  endurance 
never  kno\\Ti  before. 

The  New  Testament  passage  is  this:  "If  any 
man  hear  my  voice  and  open  the  door,  I  will  come 
in."  If  any  man!  That  is  in  the  charter  of  the 
Kingdom  of  God.  You  know  what  is  meant  there; 
no  special,  miraculous  voice;  but  at  the  heart  of 
every  man  Christ  knocks,  God  knocks.  If  any  man 
listen  and  open,  I  will  come  in — human  and  divine 
fellowship  in  any  mortal  man's  heart  who  wiU. 

Voice  means  the  expression  of  thought,  desire, 
purpose.  To  hear  God's  voice  is  to  feel  a  con- 
viction that  you  have  his  thought,  his  desire,  his 
purpose. 

John  B.  Gough  felt  the  touch  of  a  man's  hand 
upon  his  shoulder;  he  heard  a  kind  voice  inviting 
him  to  his  ofl&ce  and  to  a  sober  life.  Within  the 
touch  and  the  invitation  Gough  felt  Christ  knocking 
at  his  heart.  When  he  got  to  his  bare  room  and 
thought  of  the  friend's  work  and  of  his  own  miserable 
manhood,  the  voice  of  God  spoke  louder  within  him 
than  everything  else:  "Quit  this  drink;  another 
glass  and  you  make  hell  the  surer;  what  hell  is  you 
know  well  enough  already."  A  voice  of  God  ?  Yes, 
that  was  the  voice  of  God  reaching  a  profligate  soul. 
Gough  said,  "I'll  quit;  Lord,  I'll  quit";  and  he 
came  out  of  his  Egyptian  bondage  into  the  promised 
land  of  sobriety,  into  popular  sway  for  good,  into  a 
continental  benediction. 


212  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

Then,  there  was  that  famous  Lacordaire,  at  one 
time  adding  to  a  briUiant  university  education  irre- 
sistible eloquence  at  the  bar;  the  world  of  society 
at  his  feet.  One  day  a  friend  came  to  his  room 
and  found  him  sobbing,  heartbroken.  A  voice  had 
spoken  within,  showing  him  all  this  hollow  mockery 
of  superficial  splendor;  glistening  bubbles  on  the 
surface  of  a  deep,  briny,  moaning  sea.  He  heard  the 
voice;  he  followed  it,  and  became  a  mighty  preacher 
of  righteousness.  His  call  was  as  genuine  and  clear 
as  that  of  Isaiah. 

Charles  G.  Finney  tells  us  of  his  experience;  an 
American  in  these  modern  times.  Many,  still  living, 
will  say  they  used  to  feel,  when  he  preached,  that 
God's  voice  was  speaking  inside  Finney's  voice. 
When  he  was  converted,  the  love  of  God  came  like 
a  flood  tide  into  his  soul;  but  soon  he  fell  into  doubt. 
"Is  this  reaHty  or  is  this  illusion?  Am  I  on  solid 
rock  or  am  I  deceived?"  Then  it  was  he  poured 
out  his  soul  in  prayer,  opened  his  being  to  the  coming 
in  of  overwhelming  proof.  And  when  assurance 
came  in  again  like  a  tide,  he  says,  "  The  Spirit  seemed 
to  say.  Will  you  doubt,  will  you  doubt  ?  I  cried, 
No,  I  will  not  doubt;  I  cannot  doubt." 

I  tell  you,  God  is  not  farther  off  because  Moses 
is  dead,  Elijah,  John  the  Baptist,  and  Paul.  He  is 
the  same  yesterday,  today,  and  forever,  the  Eternal, 
the  Near-by,  One  who  can  speak.  We  have  found 
out  in  these  late  years  that  not  only  can  a  man's 
voice  go  speeding  on  across  a  continent  in  its  copper 


The  Voice  of  God  213 

pathway,  but  more  marvelous  still,  he  speaks  out 
over  the  tossing  Atlantic,  into  the  free,  untracked 
atmosphere,  and  his  voice  is  heard  thousands  of 
miles  away  in  the  darkness  and  the  storm.  And 
cannot  God  who  made  the  lips  and  ear  of  man,  who 
gave  him  all  this  ingenuity,  cannot  he  speak  so  that 
man,  in  modern  times,  can  hear?  I  tell  you,  he 
can;  and  I  dare  announce  myself  a  prophet  of  the 
Lord  and  say,  "Thus  saith  the  Lord,  I  can  turn  the 
whole  universe  into  a  whisper-gallery  and  find  the 
man  I  want,  and  make  my  voice  echo  through  his 
soul." 

The  pictorial,  realistic,  passionate  language  of 
the  Bible  is  right.  It  is  the  only  way  to  speak, 
when  you  feel  God  near  and  eternity  at  the 
door. 

Do  not  think  that,  in  these  days,  we  have  got 
away  from  God^s  judgment  and  his  hell  with  reality 
in  it.  What  do  the  present-day  ethical  judgments 
mean,  which  are  driving  crooked  men  back  into 
obscurity  and  infamy?  What  mean  the  awful 
cries  that  come  up  from  society  when  it  has  run  its 
wanton  course?  There  are  skeletons  in  the  closets 
of  palaces,  and  wrecks  in  prisons;  and  the  voice  of 
God  said  it  would  be  just  that  way,  if  men  persisted 
in  sin.  You  cannot  recklessly,  foolishly,  and  safely 
tamper  with  fire  and  flood  and  dynamite.  There 
are  laws  inescapable.  God's  voice  is  added  to  the 
experience  of  man.  It  were  well  that  we  hear  that 
voice.     And  before  it  sounds  the  note  of  doom,  may 


214  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

this  be  ours  to  repeat,  all  a-quiver  with  conviction, 
and  with  joy  which  no  man  can  take  away: 

I  heard  the  voice  of  Jesus  say 
Come  unto  me  and  rest 


I  came  to  Jesus  as  I  was, 
Weary  and  worn  and  sad; 

I  found  in  him  a  resting  place 
And  he  has  made  me  glad. 


PRAYER 

0  God,  Maker  of  Heaven  and  earth.  Creator  of  our 
life.  Father  of  our  spirits:  We  come  to  thee,  not  with 
our  feet  in  walking,  for  thou  art  where  we  are;  hut  with 
our  thought  in  recognition  of  thy  nearness,  with  our 
gratitude  in  acknowledgment  of  thy  bounty.  Our 
inmost  being  yearns  for  thee.  Even  as  the  babe  reaches 
for  its  mother,  so  our  heart  feels  after  the  living  God. 
We  know  thou  art  over  against  our  necessity;  invisible, 
but  thou  art  there.  The  yearning  with  which  thou  hast 
endowed  us  is  too  capacious  to  be  satisfied  with  things 
or  with  creatures  like  ourselves.  The  deepest  in  us  is 
unmet  if  thou  thyself  dost  not  meet  us.  The  firmament 
speaks  of  thy  handiwork,  the  heavens  declare  thy  glory. 
Oh,  speak  thou  afresh  in  our  hearts  thy  personal  word. 
Seek  ye  my  face,  and  our  heart  shall  say.  Thy  face, 
Lord,  will  we  seek.  He  that  planted  the  ear,  shall  he 
not  hear?  We  know  thou  hear  est  us.  Cleanse  our 
nature  with  a  deeper  cleansing  that  we  may  the  more 


The  Voice  of  God  215 

quickly  detect  thee  when  thou  speakest.  Sufer  us  not 
to  wait  for  earthquake,  fire,  or  stormy  blast,  hut  in  the 
still  small  voice  may  we  hear  thee  say,  This  is  the  way, 
walk  ye  in  it.  Make  us  pure  in  heart  that  we  may  see 
thee;  and,  with  this  inner  vision  clarified,  may  we  be- 
hold wondrous  things  out  of  thy  law,  thy  gospel,  and 
thy  providence.  So  may  we  come  into  blessed  fellow- 
ship with  thy  personal  self  and  with  thy  Son,  Jesus 
Christ,  our  Lord.    Amen. 


XIT 
RICHES  AND  LIFE 

BY 

EDGAR  JOHNSON  GOODSPEED 


RICHES  AND  LIFE 

And  he  said  unto  them,  Take  heed  and  keep  yourselves 
from  all  covetousness:  for  a  man's  life  consisteth  not  in  the 
abundance  of  the  things  which  he  possesseth  (Luke  12:15). 

Some  years  ago  in  an  Oxford  common-room  I  met 
a  man  noted  among  his  fellows  for  the  range  of  his 
reading.  He  was,  I  was  told,  the  best-read  man  in 
Oxford.  He  did  not  take  an  active  part  in  the  table 
conversation  nor  make  any  notable  contribution  to  it. 
In  general,  the  tide  of  talk  flowed  past  him  and  left 
him  absorbed  and  silent.  For  some  forty  years  he 
had  been  a  fellow  of  his  college,  and  with  no  teaching 
to  distract  him  and  in  an  honorable  fidelity  to  what 
he  conceived  to  be  the  opportunity  of  his  position,  he 
had  given  himself  to  reading  and  information .  He  had 
not  had  occasion  to  publish  or  to  lecture,  and  when 
a  few  months  later  an  accident  terminated  his  life 
no  potent  voice  of  moral  counsel  and  influence  was 
silenced,  no  ready  pen  of  scholar  or  reformer  was 
stopped.  He  had  had  great  possessions,  but  their 
abundance  had  not  magnified  his  life.  On  the  other 
hand,  it  was  of  Lincoln  that  his  law  partner  said,  "I 
have  never  known  a  man  who  read  less  or  thought 
more."  InteUectually,  it  is  true  that  one's  life  does 
not  consist  in  the  abundance  of  the  things  that  one 
possesses. 

A  man  weU  known  in  American  education,  who 
in  his  later  years  walked  these  quadrangles,  used  to 

319 


220  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

say  in  his  last  days  that  it  was  wonderful  how  much 
of  one's  theological  accumulations  a  man  could 
unload  as  he  approached  life's  end.  Those  of  us 
who  remember  Dr.  Northrup  in  his  later  years 
will  recall  how,  on  those  rare  occasions  when  he 
could  be  prevailed  on  to  speak,  he  dealt  almost 
invariably  with  a  single  theme,  in  which  his 
whole  religious  thought  seemed  to  have  become 
merged.  It  was  the  immanence  of  God.  ^'The 
universe,"  he  used  to  repeat,  "is  ablaze  with  God, 
from  the  atom  to  the  archangel."  In  the  realm 
of  theology  it  is  true  that  a  man's  life  con- 
sisteth  not  in  the  abundance  of  the  things  that  he 
possesseth. 

But  what  of  the  chief  realm  of  aU — the  religious 
realm  ?  Does  it  hold  here  too  ?  It  would  be  easy 
to  show  how  in  later  Judaism,  as  doctrine  and  prac- 
tice became  more  and  more  detailed  and  concrete, 
vital  religion  withered  and  declined.  Seldom  has  a 
religion  been  richer  in  specific  possessions  than  was 
Judaism  in  the  time  of  Jesus,  and  seldom  has  a 
religious  heritage  been  more  highly  prized.  The 
sacred  law  had  expanded  into  countless  interpreta- 
tions, and  the  pupil  who  forgot  one  of  its  tenets  was 
thought  little  better  than  a  suicide.  But  Jewish 
thought  became  so  absorbed  in  this  wealth  of  minu- 
tiae at  the  circumference  of  rehgion,  that  it  lost  sight 
of  the  center.  The  people  tithed  mint  and  anise 
and  every  herb,  but  passed  by  the  weightier  mat- 
ters, judgment  and  mercy  and  the  love   of   God. 


Riches  and  Life  ^2t 

They  were  so  busy  obeying  God  that  they  forgot  to 
love  him. 

Nor  did  the  early  Christians  escape  the  same 
mistake.  With  all  that  was  helpful  which  came  to 
them  from  Judaism  and  other  religious  movements 
of  their  day,  there  came  much  that  proved  a  burden 
rather  than  a  benefit.  From  Judaism  they  drew 
a  simple  and  elastic  organization,  a  collection  of 
inspired  scripture,  and  an  order  of  worship.  But 
along  with  these  useful  acquisitions  came  others 
less  desirable;  faith  began  to  become  rigid,  theology 
and  reHgion  to  be  identified,  a  new  Sabbath  and 
new  fast  days  took  the  place  of  the  old,  the  Lord's 
Prayer  became  a  formula  to  be  repeated  thrice  a 
day,  the  formal  replaced  the  spiritual,  and  legaHsm, 
liberty.  Religious  rivalries  bring  with  them  their 
temptations  to  covetousness,  and  no  temptations  are 
more  subtle  or  perilous. 

In  Christian  history,  too,  over  and  over  again  as 
creedal  refinements  have  multiplied,  the  spirit  and 
influence  of  the  founder  have  dwindled.  It  was  so 
in  the  age  of  councils,  when  Nicene  and  Chalcedonian 
hated  each  other  with  a  perfect  hatred,  in  the  name 
of  Christ.  The  emphasis  they  laid  upon  doctrinal 
differences  left  little  room  for  interest  in  the  essential 
matters  of  Christian  hfe.  Each  autumn  in  Madrid 
there  is  publicly  read  a  papal  bull  of  the  sixteenth 
century  granting  to  all  Spaniards  the  plenary  abso- 
lution anciently  given  by  Urban  II  to  the  cru- 
saders, but  this  supposed  wealth  of  reUgious  privilege 


^2^  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

has  not  made  the  Spanish  mind  tolerant  or  humane. 
Again,  in  post-Reformation  times  Luther's  freedom 
was  succeeded  by  a  Jewish  rigidity  of  reHgious  ideas 
and  practices  which  left  scant  scope  for  the  activity 
of  the  spirit.  Instances  may  be  multiplied  in  which 
as  the  content  of  religion  has  become  objective, 
extensive,  and  specific,  its  life  has  declined  in  vigor 
and  truth. 

In  these  days  of  ours  a  great  historic  church"  has 
been  debating  with  acute  interest  the  matter  of 
changing  its  name.  Another  American  communion, 
intellectually  perhaps  the  most  cultivated  among 
us,  has  been  considering  the  renunciation  of  an 
inherited  item  of  its  faith,  relating  to  the  salvability 
of  non-elect  infants.  The  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association  has  been  talking  of  a  change  in  its 
membership  requirement,  to  make  its  work  more 
efficient  and  elastic.  The  failure  of  all  these  pro- 
posals only  points  the  moral  more  acutely.  There 
are  many  possessions  of  religion  transmitted  by  the 
past  to  the  present  which,  judged  by  Jesus'  stand- 
ard, do  not  enrich  us,  for  they  do  not  make  life  great 
and  strong. 

There  is  a  sense,  of  course,  in  which  each  age  is 
the  heir  of  its  predecessors,  and  is  rich  with  all  their 
accumulations.  But  there  is  a  sense  too  in  which 
each  age  stands  by  itself  upon  its  own  feet  and  must 
have  a  society,  a  science,  and  a  faith  of  its  own 
realization.  One  of  our  novelists  somewhere  tells  of 
an  old  man  who  spent  years  in  collecting  curios  and 


Riches  and  Life  223 

works  of  art  until  he  had  gathered  a  rich  and  valu- 
able collection.  Showing  them  one  day  to  the  man 
who  was  to  be  his  heir,  he  said  to  him,  "Do  not  keep 
them.  If  you  want  a  collection,  sell  them  and 
begin  to  collect  anew.  These  will  never  mean  to 
you  what  they  have  meant  to  me."  It  was  the  col- 
lecting and  the-  discovery  that  had  been  the  joy, 
and  it  was  that  joy  of  search  and  discovery  that  the 
wise  old  man  wished  to  bequeath  to  his  heir.  The 
new  collection  might  not  be  the  equal  of  the  old, 
but  it  would  mean  more  in  the  younger  man's  life 
because  it  would  be  his  in  a  sense  in  which  the  earlier 
collection  could  never  be. 

Is  not  that  a  parable  of  religion?  Incalculably 
rich  with  the  inherited  experiences  and  collections 
of  previous  generations,  religion  sometimes  seems 
fairly  smothered  in  its  own  ajGSuence.  Cathedrals 
and  libraries,  liturgies  and  theologies  attest  the  zeal 
and  the  success  of  former  generations  in  the  supreme 
quest.  In  these  great  achievements  they  recorded 
their  struggle  and  their  victory,  and  expressed  their 
religious  life.  What  do  they  mean  to  our  day  ?  Are 
we  to  settle  down  into  possession  of  them,  com- 
placent in  the  abundance  of  our  possessions?  Or 
must  we,  if  hfe  is  to  be  all  it  may,  repeat  their 
conflict,  win  our  own  discovery,  and  enter  into 
their  joy? 

We  are  witnessing  a  curious  phenomenon  in  these 
days.  The  novelists  and  men  of  letters  are  coming 
to  the  aid  of  religion.     What  has  been  happening 


224  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

of  late  in  current  fiction  needs  no  description. 
More  than  one  leading  American  novelist  has  pro- 
duced a  novel  in  which  what  the  writer  deems  essen- 
tial Christianity  is  frankly  embodied.  An  English 
essayist,  never  before  I  believe  marked  as  a  specially 
religious  man,  has  prefaced  a  recent  book  with  these 
words: 

The  fact  that  underlies  this  book  is  this:  that  in  the 
course  of  a  very  sad  and  strange  experience,  an  illness  which 
lasted  for  some  two  years,  involving  me  in  a  dark  cloud  of 
dejection,  I  came  to  believe  practically,  instead  of  merely 
theoretically,  in  the  personal  immortality  of  the  human  soul. 
.  .  .  .  This  is  not  all.  I  was  led  to  perceive  that  I  had 
been  living  life  with  an  entirely  distorted  standard  of  values; 
I  had  been  ambitious,  covetous,  eager  for  comfort  and 
respect,  absorbed  in  trivial  dreams  and  childish  fancies. 
I  saw  in  the  course  of  my  illness  that  what  really  mattered 
to  the  soul  was  the  relation  in  which  it  stood  to  other  souls, 
that  affection  was  the  native  air  of  the  spirit,  and  that  any- 
thing which  distracted  the  heart  from  the  duty  of  love  was 
a  kind  of  bodily  delusion,  and  simply  hindered  the  spirit  in 
its  pilgrimage 

The  book  ....  aims  at  bringing  out  the  fact  that  our 
life  is  a  very  real  pilgrimage  to  high  and  far-off  things  from 
mean  and  sordid  beginnings,  and  that  the  key  of  the  mystery 
lies  in  the  frank  facing  of  experience  as  a  blessed  process  by 
which  the  secret  purpose  of  God  is  made  known  to  us,  and 
even  more  in  a  passionate  belief  in  love,  the  love  of  friend 
and  neighbor,  and  the  love  of  God,  and  in  the  absolute  faith 
that  we  are  all  of  us,  from  the  lowest  and  most  degraded 
human  soul  to  the  loftiest  and  wisest,  knit  together  with 
chains  of  infinite  nearness  and  dearness  under  God  and  in 
him  and  through  him,  now  and  hereafter  and  forevermore.^ 

» A.  C.  Benson,  The  Child  of  the  Dawn,  pp.  v,  vi,  xii,  xiii. 


Riches  and  Life  225 

This  recent  development  of  positive  religious 
interest  on  the  part  of  our  literary  men  means  at 
least  two  things :  they  have  seen  that  a  religious  word 
needs  to  be  said  and  that  official  Christianity — 
churches,  pulpits,  religious  journals — are  not  saying 
it.  This  is  why  they  are  constrained  to  say  it  them- 
selves. Their  reinforcement  carries  with  it  a  rebuke. 
And  is  it  not  a  deserved  one  ?  The  rehgious  teach- 
ing of  our  day  is  overburdened  by  its  heritage  from 
the  past.  We  are  constantly  told  that  the  gospel 
is  very  simple,  but  a  little  reflection  will  show  that  the 
gospel  as  generally  held  is  really  very  elaborate. 
Worst  of  all,  in  our  embarrassment  of  doctrinal 
riches  many  of  us  have  lost  sight  of  proportion  and 
values  until  the  partisan  formularies  of  the  ecclesias- 
tical politicians  of  old  stand  in  many  minds  quite  on 
a  par  with  the  great  teachings  of  Jesus  himself.  The 
Gospels  are  religiously  among  the  most  compel- 
ling documents  ever  written.  But  they  have  been 
so  literally  and  dogmatically  treated  that  it  is  really 
to  be  feared  that  to  many  in  our  modern  world 
they  have  become  stumbling-blocks  rather  than 
aids  to  religion.  The  books  of  the  New  Testament 
written  to  aid  devotion  have  been  canonized  into 
an  authoritative  scripture  to  control  beUef,  so  that 
the  helpers  of  our  joy  have  become  the  lords  of  our 
faith.  The  Old  Testament  which  Jesus  and  Paul 
treated  with  a  noble  and  discriminating  freedom, 
has  been  made  an  article  of  Christian  faith,  with 
the  principle  of  allegorical  interpretation  to  disguise 


226  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

its  difficulties.  More  than  one  dogma  of  the  Nicene 
time  stands  in  popular  Christian  thought  side  by 
side  with  the  greatest  utterances  of  the  prophets. 
Some  years  ago,  at  an  ordination  council,  the 
candidate,  a  very  bright  young  man,  set  forth  his 
theological  views  with  great  fulness  and  ease,  but  as  I 
listened  to  them  it  almost  seemed  to  me  that  one 
might  hold  all  he  set  forth  without  being  a  Christian 
and  that  one  might  even  be  a  Christian  without 
holding  any  of  his  views.  The  abundance  of  the 
religious  things  which  he  possessed  had  so  over- 
whelmed him  that  he  was  in  danger  of  losing  sight 
of  the  very  essence  of  the  gospel. 

Beyond  doubt  there  is  a  need  for  clear  thinking 
and  rigid  discrimination  as  to  what  the  real  essence 
of  Christian  experience  and  faith  is,  and  of  sim- 
plicity and  candor  in  stating  it.  We  must  disabuse 
our  minds  of  the  notion  that  to  be  Christians  men 
must  accept  the  accumulated  mass  of  all  the  religious 
ideas  that  have  ever  gone  under  the  Christian  name. 
Thus  we  may  begin  to  escape  from  that  abundance 
which  impoverishes  and  enthrals. 

The  Christian  life  is  not  a  harvest,  inherited  in 
storehouses  from  the  past;  it  is  a  seed  to  be  sown  and 
cultivated,  and  harvested  in  its  turn.  Forge tfulness 
of  this  is  one  reason  there  is  so  much  profession  of 
religion  which  denies  the  power  thereof.  Our  age 
is  full  of  people  who  have  without  exertion  come  by 
inheritance  into  great  riches,  but  who  are  unskilled 
in  their  care  and  use;  as  we  say,  they  do  not  know 


Riches  and  Life  227 

the  value  of  money.  Spiritual  inheritances  are  in 
even  greater  danger  of  being  misprized  or  misused. 
There  is  a  duty  of  individualism  in  religion.  No 
one  can  realize  all  types  of  religious  experience  in  his 
own.  At  best  he  can  make  some  one  type,  or  a 
blend  of  two  or  three  types,  his  own.  There  is 
great  danger  that  people  meaning  to  be  religious  will 
begin  externally  and  try  to  appropriate  the  life- 
product  of  some  individuaFs  experience,  and  find 
only  confusion  and  artificiaHty  in  the  effort;  instead 
of  beginning  as  he  began  and  developing  a  Christian 
Hfe  and  a  religious  experience  from  within,  through 
the  normal  and  gradual  integration  of  a  Christian 
point  of  view  with  the  facts  and  experiences  of  Hfe. 
The  infant,  no  matter  how  strong  or  rich,  does  not 
begin  with  the  bill  of  fare  of  the  athlete  or  the 
epicure. 

But  it  is  in  the  presentation  of  Christianity  to 
others  that  this  principle  is  most  necessary.  There 
are  two  ways  in  which  a  thoughtful  religious  inquiry 
may  be  answered.  One  may  readily  rejoin  with  some 
well-framed  phrase  of  Scripture  or  tradition,  cast  in 
the  thought-forms  of  five  or  twenty  centuries  ago; 
.that  is,  one  may  answer  by  a  formula.  But  if  we 
would  speak  to  the  heart  we  may  give  an  answer 
that  has  been  worked  out  in  our  own  search  and 
struggle,  in  words  of  common  modern  life.  Which 
is  more  effective?  The  old  is  good;  indeed  prob- 
ably it  is  even  better  than  the  new.  But  if  it  be  not 
our  own  in  this  deeper  sense  of  religious  origination 


228  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

it  will  not  reach  the  man  at  our  side  as  many  a 
humbler  message  born  of  our  own  struggle  and 
aspiration  will.  How  unreasonable  to  offer  the 
religious  inquirer  the  dogmatic  formulas  of  bygone 
days!  How  few  are  willing  to  begin,  with  Jesus, 
and  offer  people  the  simple  and  compelling  message 
of  trust  and  love.  Yet  theirs  is  the  message  that 
wakens  the  heart  and  moves  men  still  to  rise  up  and 
follow. 

It  is  no  accident  that  in  these  days  the  religious 
appeal  that  is  reaching  students  all  over  the  world 
is  the  message  cast,  not  in  terms  of  dogma,  but  in 
terms  of  life.  As  each  living  age  must  clothe  the 
eternal  gospel  in  its  own  forms  of  thought,  so  in  his 
measure  must  the  individual  do  in  his  experience. 
Of  all  the  stars  in  the  heavens  no  two  have  precisely 
the  same  celestial  outlook;  yet  the  views  from  all  of 
them  are  true,  and  how  much  richer  the  universe 
because  of  it.    They 

remain 
A  world  above  man's  head,  to  let  him  see 
How  boundless  might  his  soul's  horizons  be, 
How  vast,  yet  of  what  clear  transparency! 
How  it  were  good  to  live  there  and  breathe  free; 
How  fair  a  lot  to  fill 
Is  left  to  each  man  still! 

We  must  remind  ourselves  again  that  Christianity 
is  not  so  much  a  new  creedal  system  as  it  is  a  new 
conception  of  values,  a  truer  sense  of  proportions, 
essentially  at  variance  with  mere  muchness  of  reli- 


Riches  and  Life  229 

gious  accumulations.  Emphasis,  accent,  propor- 
tion, these  are  of  the  very  essence  of  faith.  It 
may  indeed  be  possible  to  hold  a  great  wealth  of 
dogmatic  and  traditional  possessions  in  conjunc- 
tion with  a  real  and  vital  Christian  faith,  but  the 
danger  is  that  the  wealth  will  obscure  the  faith 
and  come  to  possess  its  possessor.  More  than  one 
kind  of  riches  may  hinder  a  man's  entrance  into 
the  Kingdom  of  heaven.  Some  men's  intellectual 
possessions  have  so  increased  as  to  absorb  their 
whole  minds.  Their  minds  are  museums  or 
arsenals  of  facts  and  ideas;  or  "inexorable  logic 
engines,"  insensible  to  the  subtler  influences  of  sym- 
pathy and  aspiration.  There  is  a  religious  wealth 
that  carries  with  it  an  equal  peril.  The  man  of 
many  rehgious  possessions  is  in  danger  of  forget- 
ting that  all  are  not  of  equal  value  and  of  losing  his 
sense  of  proportion  amid  his  overwhelming  mass  of 
treasures.  We  need  sometimes  to  follow  the  mer- 
chant seeking  goodly  pearls,  who  found  one  pearl  of 
great  price  and  sold  all  that  he  had  to  buy  it.  That 
is  far  better  religious  experience  than  to  tear  down 
our  barns  and  build  greater  and  invite  our  souls  to 
complacency  and  ease.  Jesus  realized  the  simplicity 
of  Hfe.     Few  things,  he  said,  are  needful. 

But  the  chief  peril  of  riches  is  unreaHty.  Life 
becomes  distorted  and  artificial.  The  religious 
experience  must  have  vitality  and  originality. 
Truth  that  has  been  made  one's  own  in  real  inward 
experience  is  worth  all  the  dogmas  of  the  creeds. 


230  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

How  quickly  a  religious  teacher  reveals  whether 
his  message  is  one  of  borrowed  formulas  or  of  inward 
conflict  and  conquest!  The  religious  life  lays  upon 
those  who  would  possess  it,  still  more  upon  those 
who  would  proclaim  it,  the  stern  duty  of  winning 
it  by  deep  and  personal  conflict  with  selfishness  and 
doubt.  There  is  a  sense  in  which  the  greatest  truths 
of  religion  never  become  real  to  us  until  we  have  in 
our  measure  reproduced  the  agonizing  experiences 
of  their  discoverers,  and  drunk  the  cup  that  they 
drank.  Out  of  such  mortal  conflict,  whether  in  the 
search  for  truth  or  for  righteousness,  emerges  a 
message  of  sincerity  and  power. 

Children  of  men!  not  that  your  age  excel 

In  pride  of  life  the  ages  of  your  sires! 
But  that  ye  think  clear,  feel  deep,  bear  fruit  well, 

The  Friend  of  Man  desires. 

PRAYER 

Generous  Father,  who  givest  to  all  men  liberally 
and  without  reproach:  Make  us  wise  to  find  thee  in 
thy  gifts  and  prompt  in  gratitude  and  obedience. 
Forbid  that  we  should  in  all  our  religious  riches  lose 
thee,  or  suffer  them  to  hide  thee  from  our  trust  and  love. 
Quicken  our  devotion,  strengthen  our  aspiration,  in- 
crease our  faith.  And  may  the  grace  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  be  with  us  all.     Amen. 


xin 

THE  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  JESUS 

BY 

HERBERT  LOCKWOOD  WILLETT 


THE  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  JESUS 

Philip  saith  unto  him,  Lord,  show  us  the  Father 

Jesus  saith  unto  him  ....  He  that  hath  seen  me  hath  seen 
the  Father  (John  14:8,  9). 

It  is  beyond  question  that  Jesus  is  increasingly 
conspicuous  in  the  thought  and  affection  of  the 
world.  From  him  in  both  directions  the  records  of 
western  life  take  their  way.  Into  the  Orient  where 
he  passed  the  short  term  of  his  life  the  influences 
he  released  are  penetrating.  No  forces  have  been 
so  potent  in  molding  thought  and  creating  insti- 
tutions as  those  he  inspired.  Into  human  society 
he  entered  at  a  moment  significant  in  its  social 
and  political  experiences.  All  the  great  religious 
movements  which  have  most  profoundly  interested 
humanity,  save  Christianity  and  Islam,  were  already 
in  the  field  and  had  for  centuries  wrought  at  the 
task  of  enlightenment.  Yet  there  was  room  for 
another  and  more  potent  force.  There  was  even 
a  measure  of  expectancy  among  those  early  peoples 
that  new  disclosures  of  the  divine  purpose  might 
appear.  The  messianic  hopes  of  the  Hebrews  were 
taking  form.  Eastern  moral  leaders  had  declared 
that  somewhere  in  the  West  the  true  prophet 
should  arise.  Plato  anticipated  a  better  world- 
order,  and  Confucius  taught  that  after  him  other 
and  greater  teachers  were  to  come. 

233 


234  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

Yet  in  the  advent  of  Jesus  there  was  little  to 
guarantee  the  fulfilment  of  these  hopes.  His  coming 
was  unmarked  by  portent  or  wonder.  In  the  circle 
of  the  Galilean  hills  he  grew  up  so  quietly  and  simply 
that  his  fellow-townsmen  later  heard  with  astonish- 
ment the  claim  that  he  was  even  a  rabbi.  He 
accepted  the  modest  tasks  of  his  home  and  passed 
his  youthful  years  as  an  artisan  in  a  highland  town. 
He  was  deeply  interested  in  the  religious  life  of  his 
people  and  counted  it  a  joy  to  go  with  them  up  to 
the  capital  at  the  annual  religious  feasts.  When 
he  learned  that  a  prophetic  voice  was  calling  the 
nation  to  repentance  in  the  region  of  the  Jordan,  he 
went  at  once  and  threw  himself  with  enthusiasm 
into  the  movement  in  behalf  of  better  things.  And 
when  the  preacher  of  the  desert  was  suppressed  by 
the  authorities,  Jesus  gathered  a  few  friends  about 
him  and  continued  the  mission  for  the  establishment 
of  the  Kingdom  of  God  on  the  lines  already 
announced. 

His  methods  were  simple.  He  went  about  the 
country  with  his  followers  teaching,  preaching,  and 
rendering  aid  to  all  classes,  especially  the  sick  and 
the  poor.  Less  spectacular  than  the  rough  prophet 
of  the  Jordan,  he  yet  won  to  himself  great  com- 
panies of  enthusiastic  followers,  especially  in  North- 
em  Palestine.  He  fulfilled  none  of  the  messianic 
hopes  of  the  time,  and  at  first  was  not  taken  seriously 
by  the  leaders  in  church  and  state.  Yet  he  was 
watched  with  increasing  suspicion  by  representatives 


The  Significance  of  Jesus  235 

from  the  capital,  who  viewed  with  disquiet  his 
growing  popularity,  and  attempted  to  discredit 
him  with  the  people.  Seeming  to  anticipate  his 
inability  to  Hve  long  or  to  journey  far,  he  gathered 
about  himself  within  the  wide  circle  of  his  following 
a  little  company  of  men  of  provincial  life,  yet  more 
sensitive  to  his  ideals  than  any  others  he  could  find. 
To  these  men  he  made  known  his  purposes,  charging 
them  to  interpret  to  all  men  what  they  had  learned 
from  him.  He  spoke  much  of  the  Kingdom  of  God, 
the  new  social  order  of  peace  and  good  will,  which 
he  was  attempting  to  bring  into  fuller  expression; 
and  that  term  was  a  useful  watchword,  attracting 
many  to  his  following.  But  aside  from  his  tempo- 
rary popularity  in  Galilee  his  followers  were  never 
numerous.  And  so  completely  did  the  leaders  of 
the  community  fail  to  understand  the  unselfishness 
of  his  purpose  that  at  last,  through  fear  and  envy, 
they  brought  him  to  his  death. 

No  great  world-movement  was  ever  less  pre- 
tentious in  its  beginnings  and  in  its  first  issue  more 
frustrate.  Yet  in  spite  of  his  seeming  overthrow 
the  ideals  of  Jesus  began  from  the  very  first  to  find 
effective  lodgment  in  the  mind  of  his  age.  He  had 
not  many  friends,  but  those  he  made  remained  firm 
in  their  confidence  in  him.  They  believed  in  his 
life,  his  teachings,  and  his  program.  He  so  inspired 
them  with  faith  in  him  that  they  were  able  to  with- 
stand the  seemingly  overwhelming  facts  of  his 
downfall  and  death.     Out  from  the  shadow  of  his 


236  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

crucifixion  they  emerged  with  a  triumphant  confi- 
dence that  death  had  no  dominion  over  him.  They 
made  known  to  all  men  the  fact  that  they  had  seen 
him  alive  and  victorious  after  his  enemies  had  their 
way  with  him.  Confident  in  this  faith  and  in  their 
devotion  to  his  teachings,  they  spread  his  message 
in  circles  far  beyond  the  little  country  in  which  he 
had  lived.  Within  the  first  few  generations  after 
the  close  of  Jesus'  ministry  his  disciples  were  num- 
bered by  thousands,  and  soon  the  Christian  so- 
ciety was  so  widely  extended  and  so  potent  as  to 
possess  a  social  and  political  significance  no  longer 
negligible. 

Into  the  complex  of  forces  which  made  the 
Roman  Empire  in  the  age  of  Augustus,  Jesus  entered 
as  almost  the  least  notable  of  figures.  Within  three 
centuries  his  was  the  most  impressive  name  on  the 
lips  of  men  of  the  Mediterranean  world.  Con- 
stantine,  a  Christian  emperor,  was  seated  upon  the 
throne  of  the  Caesars,  and  Jesus  had  well-nigh  dis- 
placed the  Roman  Jupiter.  Nor  was  this  political 
success  of  Christianity,  questionable  as  was  its 
influence  upon  the  church,  without  value  as  a 
symbol  of  the  growing  pervasiveness  of  Christian 
ideas  among  the  nations  of  the  West  and  the  East. 
Through  the  centuries  Christianity  has  gone  forward 
inspiring  mankind  to  the  attainment  of  the  larger 
life.  Not  without  obscurations,  reactions,  hesi- 
tancies, and  surrenders,  but  on  the  whole  with  a 
persistent  purpose,  the  Christian  society  has  carried 


The  Significance  of  Jesus  237 

forward  the  enterprise  of  its  Master.  Never  was 
this  purpose  so  confidently  cherished  as  today. 
There  are  daily  proofs  that  Jesus'  interpretation  of 
life  is  on  the  way  to  complete  mastery  of  the  world. 
His  word  possesses  a  power  it  never  had  before.  His 
teachings  dominate  widening  circles  of  the  race. 
His  disclosure  of  ethical  and  religious  values  is  taken 
with  increasing  seriousness.  His  message  concern- 
ing the  divine  life  becomes  convincing  and  authori- 
tative to  groups  never  before  touched  by  other  than 
ethnic  religious  ideals. 

But  the  religion  of  Jesus,  though  it  has  always 
claimed  him  as  its  center  and  exponent,  and  has 
maintained  its  devotion  to  his  person  and  purposes, 
has  not  remained  the  same  in  successive  periods. 
It  has  discovered  in  him  constantly  enlarging 
values.  It  has  progressively  discerned,  both  in  his 
personal  faith  and  in  his  teachings  for  humanity, 
new  ideals  and  fresh  points  of  emphasis,  so  that 
Christianity  has  presented  an  ever-changing  appear- 
ance to  the  world.  With  unfailing  devotion  to  the 
person  of  Jesus,  and  what  it  conceived  to  be  the 
ruling  ideas  proclaimed  by  him,  the  church  has 
presented  an  essentially  different  Master  to  each 
age.  From  the  Christ  of  apocalyptic  expectancy 
in  the  first  century  to  the  Christ  of  social  redemp- 
tion in  our  time,  the  new  interpretation  of  each 
generation  has  taken  the  most  convincing  and 
timely  form.  Never  was  this  change  more  apparent 
than  in  the  present  period.     Radical  has  been  the 


238  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

modification  wrought  in  the  church's  estimate  of 
Jesus  in  recent  years.  No  greater  revolution  has 
occurred  in  the  history  of  Christian  thought  than 
that  in  our  time  relating  to  the  person  of  Jesus. 
This  is  not  the  result  of  mere  academic  discussion 
as  to  the  reality  of  the  historical  Jesus,  nor  does  it 
concern  chiefly  the  distinction  between  the  Jesus 
of  the  Gospels  and  the  Christ  of  theology  and  expe- 
rience. It  is  rather  a  change  wrought  by  the  neces- 
sity of  meeting  and  answering  the  challenge  of  our 
day  regarding  the  value  and  significance  of  Jesus 
for  character  and  conduct.  Many  of  the  former 
assessments  of  our  Lord  are  seen  to  be  obsolescent, 
if  not  obsolete,  in  the  light  of  this  fresh  form  of 
inquiry. 

The  Jewish  Christian  church,  which  inherited 
the  older  Hebraic  hope  of  a  coming  deliverer,  the 
burning  theme  of  apocalyptic  spirit  and  literature, 
seized  upon  the  conception  of  a  coming  Messiah 
and  applied  that  title  and  function  to  Jesus.  That 
hope  was  rife  in  the  latest  period  of  pre-Christian 
Judaism,  and  the  air  was  full  of  such  political 
expectancy  in  the  days  of  Jesus.  As  a  means  of 
focusing  attention  and  securing  interest  Jesus 
accepted  for  himself  this  designation.  But  it  is 
evident  that  he  felt  the  remoteness  and  inappro- 
priateness  of  the  term  as  employed  in  the  vocabulary 
of  the  time.  He  had  little  interest  in  the  crass 
messianic  expectations  of  the  people  around  him. 
When  he  accepted  the  title  at  all  he  eviscerated  it, 


The  Significance  of  Jesus  239 

and  then  filled  it  with  a  new  content  of  moral  worth. 
Yet  the  church  has  persisted  through  the  centuries 
under  the  spell  of  this  partial  and  materialistic 
notion  of  the  Jewish  community.  There  are  still 
considerable  groups  of  Christians  who  attempt  to 
relate  the  work  of  Jesus  to  that  Jewish  term.  The 
early  church  believed  that  Jesus  was  soon  to  return 
in  a  physical  and  visible  form,  and  that  the  victory 
of  his  kingdom  would  be  apocalyptic  and  catas- 
trophic. To  a  surprising  extent  the  church  has 
continued  to  hold  to  this  materialistic  and  unspirit- 
ual  view,  and  to  that  extent  to  misinterpret  the 
entire  spirit  of  Jesus  in  his  promise  of  perpetual 
presence  with  his  people. 

The  early  Christian  society  laid  eager  stress  upon 
the  Master's  works  of  power.  The  behef  in  miracle 
belongs  to  no  one  race  or  period.  Most  religious 
teachers  have  been  credited  by  their  followers  with 
acts  of  wonder.  The  Old  Testament  contains 
many  records  of  the  miraculous.  And  there  was 
in  earlier  ages  a  certain  expectancy  of  the  mar- 
velous in  the  reception  of  any  new  teacher  by  the 
people.  From  such  men  deeds  of  wonder  were  to 
be  anticipated.  That  Jesus  healed  the  sick  and 
performed  other  acts  which  had  the  value  of  marvel 
to  the  men  of  his  time  seems  clear  from  the  early 
Christian  sources.  He  laid  no  particular  stress 
on  these  features  of  his  ministry,  but  rejoiced  in 
his  power  to  bring  help  to  his  fellow-men.  His 
works  of  healing  were  the  natural  outgoings  of  his 


240  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

sjonpathies  to  the  afflicted  and  the  distressed.  But 
to  his  followers  such  manifestations  of  mastery  in 
the  domain  of  nature  were  the  tokens  of  his  author- 
ity, the  credentials  of  his  mission  as  a  teacher  sent 
from  God.  And  though  the  early  church,  following 
the  teaching  of  Paul,  gave  them  a  comparatively 
unimportant  place  in  Jesus'  program  for  humanity, 
it  furnished  the  suggestion  which  later  centuries 
developed  into  the  dogma  of  the  supernatural, 
unearthly  Christ,  whose  life  was  manifest  in  constant 
miracle,  and  whose  efficiency  was  demonstrated  by 
acts  of  power. 

The  most  outstanding  characteristics  of  that 
religion  in  the  midst  of  which  Jesus  grew  up  were 
its  forms  of  sacrifice  and  its  priestly  ministries. 
Most  religions  of  antiquity  have  presented  similar 
sacerdotal  and  ritualistic  features.  The  early 
Christian  community  was  mostly  Jewish  by  race, 
and  its  familiar  conceptions  of  religion  were  in  terms 
of  blood  offerings  to  be  presented  at  the  sanctuary. 
Life  under  the  Law  was  by  no  means  limited  to 
these  external  forms  of  religion.  But  they  were 
naturally  the  most  impressive.  For  this  reason  no 
figures  of  speech  were  more  effective  in  illustrating 
Christianity  to  this  type  of  mind  than  those  bor- 
rowed from  the  temple  services.  It  was  hardly 
avoidable,  therefore,  that  Christianity  should  be 
invested  with  sacrificial  values.  In  popular  thought 
Jesus  became  implicated  in  a  priestly  scheme  of 
mediation  and  atonement.     Much  of  the  language 


The  Significance  of  Jesus  241 

of  the  New  Testament  is  colored  by  this  conception. 
In  consequence,  in  the  theology  of  the  church  that 
which  was  essentially  figurative  became  funda- 
mental. The  forms  and  phrases  of  the  Jewish  insti- 
tution were  transferred  to  Jesus  and  his  program 
for  humanity.  Christianity  became,  to  this  extent, 
a  priestly,  magical  institution.  Its  primitive, 
simple  values  for  character  were  obscured  by  an 
elaborate  system  of  priestly  rites. 

Catching  at  the  words  of  adoration  in  which  the 
first  disciples  poured  out  their  love  and  reverence 
for  the  Lord,  Christian  teachers  through  the  cen- 
turies have  elaborated  definitions  so  metaphysical 
and  titles  so  mysterious  as  to  come  dangerously 
near  the  point  at  which  Jesus  is  robbed  of  all  human 
value,  and  spiritual  religion  is  plunged  into  that 
very  abyss  of  confusion  from  which  it  was  the  task 
of  the  great  prophets  and  of  Jesus  to  rescue  it.  At 
times  the  church  seems  almost  to  have  forgotten 
the  Father  whom  Jesus  worshiped  and  sought  to 
interpret.  In  strange  forgetfulness  of  the  Master's 
example,  it  has  substituted  the  worship  of  Christ  for 
that  of  God.  In  apparent  jealousy  for  the  honor 
of  our  Lord,  it  has  searched  the  vocabularies  for 
new  words  in  which  to  frame  creeds  competent  to 
voice  a  sufficiently  exalted  conception  of  his  divinity 
and  deity.  In  the  refinements  of  trinitarian  defi- 
nition, Christianity  has  sometimes  gone  baldly 
over  to  polytheism.  Indeed,  such  have  been  the 
lengths  to  which  the  creed-making  process  has  gone 


242  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

that  even  Jews  and  Mohammedans,  strong  in  their 
monotheistic  convictions,  have  stood  astonished 
and  indignant  in  the  presence  of  what  seemed  to 
them  nothing  less  than  Christian  tritheism. 

And  behef  in  these  definitions  and  categories 
men  have  called  faith,  as  if  the  rich  life  of  God  dis- 
closed to  the  world  in  the  character  and  teachings  of 
the  Master  could  be  cabined  in  the  terms  of  meta- 
physics and  speculation.  Such  forms  of  Christian 
faith,  so  called,  have  been  elaborated  and  defended 
with  courageous  and  remorseless  fidelity.  In  behalf 
of  such  definitions  men  have  contended  with  the 
passion  of  devotees  and  the  consecration  of  saints. 
And  all  the  time  the  Master,  whose  purposes  lay 
far  afield  from  these  scholastic  subtleties,  was 
suffering  practical  denial  in  the  house  of  his  friends. 

The  results  of  these  tendencies  to  limit  the  work 
of  Jesus  to  the  realm  of  intellectual  interests  are 
easily  perceived.  He  was  lifted  quite  out  of  the 
realm  of  normal  human  experience  and  made  a 
supernormal,  unearthly  being,  unreal  and  ineffectual. 
He  was  divested  of  the  quaHties  which  give  him 
value  for  the  winniag  of  character,  and  removed  to 
a  cloudland  of  speculation,  where  he  touched  but 
remotely  the  lives  of  the  men  and  women  who  most 
needed  his  aid.  He  ceased  to  have  significance 
for  the  common  world. 

Furthermore,  religion  by  this  process  has  been 
warped  from  life  to  dogma,  ritual,  and  organization. 
The   church  has  been  robbed  of  its  vitality  and 


The  Significance  of  Jesus  243 

power.  In  consequence  Christianity  is  too  little 
regarded  as  a  necessary  and  worthful  possession, 
and  its  ruling  ideas  are  called  into  doubt.  Men 
cannot  take  seriously  a  system  of  ideas  so  remote 
from  actual  human  interests.  But  worst  of  all, 
this  interpretation  of  Christianity  has  seemed  to 
imply  that  the  God  it  was  seeking  to  make  known 
is  concerned  with  unimportant  and  second-rate 
interests.  Even  if  all  the  contentions  of  the  earlier 
dogmatic  Christianity  could  be  proved,  they  fail 
to  make  the  impression  of  significance  on  the  minds 
of  thoughtful  men.  Granting  that  these  things 
are  true,  in  what  manner  do  they  concern  the 
man  on  the  street?  He  cares  for  few  of  them. 
And  a  religion  that  gives  the  impression  that  it  is 
mainly  concerned  with  trivial  things  easily  acquires 
the  reputation  of  beheving  in  a  trivial  God.  Beyond 
this  point  it  can  hardly  go  in  the  direction  of  failure. 
The  task  of  the  church  in  recent  days  has  been 
that  of  facing  frankly  the  facts  and  attempting  to 
adjust  itself  to  the  needs  of  the  hour  in  the  light 
of  its  historic  truth.  The  result  has  been  a  gradual, 
and  yet  effective,  rejection  of  no  inconsiderable 
amount  of  its  former  theological  possession.  It 
has  set  its  definitions  in  the  light  of  history  and 
experience  and  found  many  of  them  of  little  worth. 
It  is  therefore  relegating  such  to  the  obscurity  of 
discarded  and  worthless  ideas,  once  popular,  and 
even  useful,  but  no  longer  of  value.  It  has  re- 
examined the  hope  cherished  by  the  early  church, 


244  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

that  Jesus  would  soon  return  in  visible  and  bodily 
form  to  lead  in  a  campaign,  for  which  the  gospel 
he  taught  had  proved  ineffective.  It  is  rejecting 
those  theologies  of  despair  which  stress  the  immi- 
nent appearance  of  the  Lord,  and  is  returning  to 
a  truer  appreciation  of  the  Christian  message  as 
the  power  to  save  the  world,  and  of  Jesus'  words  of 
assurance,  '^I  am  with  you  always.'' 

It  is  taking  the  same  course  with  miracle.  It 
perceives  that  whatever  may  have  been  the  element 
of  wonder  in  the  life  of  Jesus,  he  regarded  it  as  of 
little  worth  and  appealed  rather  to  the  more  normal 
elements  of  persuasion  and  conviction  for  the 
success  of  his  ministry.  Even  if  the  miracles  were 
once  convincing  proofs  of  Jesus'  authority,  they 
have  no  longer  such  value.  Men  believe  in  miracle 
today,  if  at  all,  because  they  believe  first  of  all  in 
the  Christ  in  whose  life  these  works  of  healing 
appear. 

Salvation  cannot  longer  be  regarded  as  a  magical 
process.  The  atonement  must  be  conceived  as 
a  plain,  human  task,  undertaken  by  Jesus  as  the 
representative  of  humanity,  and  not  achieved  by 
him  in  a  mysterious,  transcendental  way.  The 
traditional  doctrine  of  the  vicarious  suffering  of 
Christ  has  become  to  most  men  incomprehensible, 
unconvincing,  and  unconsoling.  More  than  this, 
we  gain  nothing  for  Jesus  by  searching  language 
for  new  terms  of  adoration  in  which  to  describe 
him.     He  sought  nothing  for  himself,  but  every- 


The  Significance  of  Jesus  245 

thing  for  the  Father  whom  he  adored,  and  in  whose 
friendship  lay  the  secret  of  all  his  being.  To  speak 
of  Jesus  in  terms  which  imply  his  Godhood  is  merely 
to  confuse  terms  and  to  set  obstacles  before  simple 
and  trusting  faith.  The  present  generation  craves 
religion,  but  it  does  not  want  it  at  the  expense  of 
clear  and  honest  thinking.  It  is  asking  for  help  in 
its  quest  of  God,  and  that  help  the  church  is 
abundantly  able  to  afford  if  it  is  willing  to  accept 
the  clear  and  explicit  leadership  of  Jesus  in  the 
great  adventure. 

What  is  left  of  Christianity  if  these  earlier  and 
traditional  ideas  are  given  up?  Are  they  not  the 
very  essence  of  the  historic  faith  ?  In  their  abandon- 
ment, or  transformation,  is  not  the  long  and  arduous 
labor  of  the  church  surrendered  ?  There  are  those 
who  would  so  affirm.  But  it  is  significant  that 
a  multitude  of  testimonies  insist  that  by  the  removal 
of  definitions  which  are  not  essential  there  is  gained 
the  opportunity  to  face  the  real  issues  of  religion. 
And  it  is  to  this  attitude  that  the  church  is  attaining 
at  the  present  time.  With  fresh  insistence  it  is 
making  known  its  faith  in  Jesus.  Nor  has  it  sur- 
rendered aught  of  vital  import  in  its  change  of 
emphasis.  Its  message  is  given  with  a  new  urgency. 
It  has  discovered  fresh  depths  of  power  in  the  life 
of  the  Lord. 

What  then  has  the  church  of  modern  days  to 
say  about  Jesus?  What  are  the  vital  elements  of 
its  faith  in  him?     If  it  is  not  to  exhaust  itself  in 


246  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

afifirmations  of  a  secondary  character,  such  as  his 
fulfihnent  of  Old  Testament  prophecies,  his  real- 
ization of  Jewish  messianic  hopes,  his  supernatural 
birth  and  ministry,  his  procurement  of  human  sal- 
vation by  mysterious,  not  to  say  magical,  means, 
and  his  unearthly  and  metaphysical  nature,  what 
is  to  be  its  fundamental  testimony?  It  is  clear 
that  all  of  these  traditional  claims  might  be  true 
of  him,  and  yet  possess  no  special  significance  for 
human  life.  What  are  the  positive  declarations  of 
the  church  as  to  his  character  and  service  ? 

The  significance  of  Jesus  for  human  life  finds 
expression  in  part  at  least  in  the  fact  that  he  is  the 
heart  and  the  hope  of  humanity.  In  him  all  its 
dreams  have  come  true.  Its  aspirations  for  personal 
life  and  social  enthusiasm  find  realization  in  him. 
All  that  the  prophets  hoped  to  attain  in  a  better 
and  more  ideal  humanity  has  been  reached  already 
in  his  life  and  program.  All  that  the  bards  and 
seers  of  non-Hebrew  peoples  yearned  to  behold  in 
the  form  of  personal  nobility  and  public  service  he 
illustrated  and  brought  within  the  range  of  attain- 
ment. All  that  philosophy  had  striven  to  attain 
by  earnest  thought,  and  religion  had  endeavored  to 
realize  through  its  search  for  the  divine,  Jesus 
brought  to  expression  in  personal  holiness  and  in 
a  program  of  universal  good. 

He  is  the  revealer  of  God.  In  him  are  disclosed 
the  quaHties  of  love  and  righteousness,  which,  as 
he  made  men  understand,  are  the  essence  of  the 


The  Significance  of  Jesus  247 

life  of  God.  The  deepest  need  of  the  world  is  the 
Father.  Jesus  knew  and  loved  the  Father  as  has 
no  one  else  in  history,  and  he  made  God  real  to  men 
by  awakening  in  them  a  love  for  the  Father  and 
the  things  the  Father  loved.  More  than  this,  he 
created  in  them  a  passion  to  accomplish  the  work 
of  adjustment  and  service  in  which  the  Father  is 
evermore  engaged.  By  virtue  of  his  disclosure  of  the 
life  of  God  he  has  vindicated  his  right  to  be  called  in 
the  highest  sense  the  Son  of  God,  for  he  is  the  truest 
manifestation  of  the  Father's  character  and  purpose. 

He  is  the  interpreter  of  life.  He  spoke  of  his 
plan  of  living  as  the  Way,  the  method  by  which 
completeness  of  life  is  to  be  attained.  What  he 
meant  by  this  certainly  includes  the  assurance  that 
whoever  takes  his  point  of  view,  adopts  his  attitude 
toward  God,  toward  man,  and  toward  the  universe, 
cannot  fail  of  success.  He  did  not  ask  men  to 
accept  some  list  of  definitions  which  he  formulated, 
nor  to  conform  to  a  catalogue  of  duties  which  he 
sanctioned.  Rather  he  disclosed  the  realities  of 
being,  in  harmony  with  which  life  comes  to  its 
noblest  estate.  The  principles  he  announced  and 
illustrated  are  basic  and  fundamental,  as  self- 
demonstrating  as  the  laws  of  perspective  or  the 
rules  of  mathematics.  These  principles  constitute  a 
program  for  every  individual  and  every  social  group. 

And  the  proof  that  they  are  fundamental  and 
final  is  the  fact  that  they  actually  work  when  tried. 
This  is  the  ground  of  the  new  appeal  of  Christianity. 


248  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

The  old  intellectual  objections,  the  academic  diffi- 
culties raised  against  the  program  of  Jesus,  have 
no  longer  the  slightest  validity.  It  is  character- 
istic of  our  generation  that  it  brings  all  things  to  the 
test  of  experience,  and  here  the  claims  of  our  Lord 
are  completely  vindicated.  Jesus  and  his  first 
friends  insisted  that  this  would  be  true.  They  said 
that  whoever  tried  his  plan  with  serious  purpose 
should  know.  The  choice  spirits  of  the  ages  have 
said  the  same.  The  glorious  names  in  the  story  of 
human  attainment  of  the  divine  life  are  the  wit- 
nesses of  this  claim.  Paul,  Augustine,  St.  Francis, 
Thomas  a  Kempis,  Horace  Bushnell,  Spurgeon, 
and  Phillips  Brooks  are  of  that  elect  and  innumer- 
able company  who  have  proved  the  value  of  Jesus' 
plan  by  the  great  experiment  of  life. 

But  the  modem  man  prefers  to  make  the  test 
for  himself.  He  wishes  to  take  nothing  for  granted. 
And  whenever  he  makes  trial  of  Christianity  in  a 
serious  and  thoroughgoing  way  he  finds  it  com- 
pletely true.  To  put  it  to  such  a  test  is  the  privilege 
of  every  investigator,  and  the  results,  though 
varied,  are  reassuring.  If  anyone  today  is  still 
unconvinced  of  the  worthfulness,  efficiency,  and 
finality  of  Jesus  it  is  because  he  has  not  tried  the 
great  experiment  for  himself,  or  has  missed  the 
point  of  emphasis. 

Jesus  is  the  exemplar  and  the  inspirer  of  life. 
His  program  is  complete  for  every  class.  The 
social  order  of  which  he  spoke  is  perceived  to  be 


The  Significance  of  Jesus  249 

practicable.  His  ethics  severely  applied  are  the 
only  working  basis  of  a  satisfying  social  order. 
His  teachings  are  today  penetrating  the  life  of  the 
occidental  world  in  which  they  have  been  for 
centuries  formally  acknowledged,  but  only  super- 
ficially applied.  In  the  Orient  the  ideals  of  Jesus  are 
slowly,  but  certainly,  changing  the  most  ancient 
of  civilizations.  In  Africa  and  the  islands  the 
gospel  of  Jesus  vindicates  itself  in  its  power  to 
transform  and  enlighten  the  crudest  types  of 
savagery.  The  older  faiths  feel  the  vivifying 
touch  of  the  message  of  the  Christ.  Strange  revivals 
of  religious  feeling  manifest  themselves  in  the  heart 
of  faiths  older  than  Christianity,  and  the  serious 
student  of  religion  is  convinced  that  these  new 
manifestations  of  religion  are  inspired  by  the 
presence  of  Christian  teaching  and  influence.  Once 
again  as  evermore  through  the  centuries  the  touch 
of  Christian  truth  vitalizes  the  dead  forms  of 
religion,  and  the  brightness  of  that  light  that 
lighteth  every  man  that  cometh  into  the  world  is 
penetrating  the  twilight  where  the  dead  gods  wait. 
In  the  light  of  these  convincing  proofs  of  the 
power  of  Christ  it  is  now  perceived  that  every  claim 
made  for  Jesus  by  the  historic  church  is  true. 
Some  of  these  claims  were  unimportant  and  super- 
ficial, but  at  base  they  are  valid.  In  the  light  of 
a  more  vital  interpretation  of  Christian  truth, 
many  of  the  older  formulas  that  seemed  meaningless 
and  irrelevant  attain  significance  and  worthfulness. 


250  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

That  which  critical  inquiry  seemed  to  cast  away 
now  comes  back  with  new  and  larger  meaning. 
None  of  the  old  values  of  Jesus  is  lost  to  those 
who  search  for  their  deeper  worth.  He  is  the 
fulfilment  of  prophecy,  when  prophecy  is  studied 
at  its  highest  level.  That  onward  sweep  of  divine 
purpose  of  which  the  great  moral  leaders  of  Israel 
were  the  proclaimers  finds  its  consummation  in  his 
purposes  for  humanity. 

He  is  the  Messiah,  not  in  the  small  measure  of  the 
term  as  it  found  its  place  in  the  Jewish  vocabulary, 
but  in  the  sense  that  no  other  term  in  the  wide 
ranges  of  that  religious  movement  was  large  enough 
to  suggest  any  approach  to  the  greatness  of  his  char- 
acter and  ideals.  He  is  supernatural,  not  merely  be- 
cause of  miracle  in  his  life,  though  the  Gospel  records 
are  the  witnesses  of  his  works  of  power;  but  in  the 
larger  sense  that  he  has  revealed  to  us  in  himself  the 
higher  life,  beyond  the  ranges  of  selfishness  and  sin, 
and  thus  linked  humanity  with  the  divine  in  a  new 
order  of  being,  of  which  he  is  the  supreme  manifes- 
tation. He  is  supernatural  by  reason  of  his  complete 
harmony  with  the  divine  order  of  the  universe  which 
is  essentially  supernatural,  and  in  which  God  is 
eternally  realizing  his  gracious  purposes.  He  is  the 
atonement  of  humanity  in  a  truer  sense  than  the 
older  theology  has  realized,  because  he  proclaims 
and  illustrates  the  unity  of  the  human  and  the 
divine  as  possible  for  all  men.  Through  that  gate- 
way of  suffering  and  service  by  which  he  passed  to  the 


The  Significance  of  Jesus  251 

consummation  of  his  ministry  he  calls  all  men  to 
follow  him,  and  thus  to  fulfil  for  themselves  that 
redemptive  work  which  he  first  undertook  in  behalf 
of  all  the  race.  In  this  atonement  he  is  the  repre- 
sentative, vicarious  pioneer,  passing  first  along  the 
path  of  sacrifice  which  all  men  must  tread  in  the 
new  and  redeemed  society  whose  approach  he  pro- 
claimed and  for  whose  completion  he  taught  his 
disciples  evermore  to  pray. 

He  is,  moreover,  the  final  authority  in  the  realm 
of  religion,  not  because  of  any  arbitrary  assumption 
of  rulership  over  the  minds  and  consciences  of  men, 
but  because  of  his  disclosure  of  the  final  truths  of 
being.  He  is  the  elder  brother  of  the  race,  who  has 
passed  this  way  and  knows  all  the  secrets  of  the 
road.  He  is  the  friend  who  is  engaged  with  us  in 
the  great  adventure  of  life,  and  whose  honor  is  at 
stake  until  the  rest  of  us  have  won  through  like 
himself.  Like  the  pilot,  the  physician,  the  master 
of  any  art,  his  is  the  authority  of  knowledge  and 
sympathy.  His  call  is  to  himself,  to  his  ideals,  his 
manner  of  life,  his  program  for  society,  and  his 
service  for  the  world.  And  this  call  has  all  the 
authority  of  a  divine  imperative,  because  in  response 
to  it  alone  may  be  found  happiness,  efficiency,  and 
the  achievement  of  life. 

He  is  the  Son  of  God  in  the  fullest  sense  of  which 
human  thought  or  language  is  capable.  Beyond 
him  there  is  no  perfection  visible.  One  need  not 
quarrel  with  those  who  search  the  lexicons  for  terms 


252  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

of  honor  to  bestow  upon  him.  There  is  no  danger 
that  his  person  and  character  will  be  overrated. 
The  danger  is  that  in  the  effort  to  give  him  a  rever- 
ent and  exalted  title,  clearness  of  thought  shall  be 
sacrificed  and  the  reahty  of  Jesus'  great  human 
experience  shall  be  forgotten.  He  is  the  Son  of 
God,  but  he  is  even  more  than  this — the  Son  of 
man.  That  title  expresses  the  completeness  of  his 
human  experience,  the  intimacy  of  his  relation  with 
us,  the  ideal,  representative  character  of  his  human- 
ity, and  the  reality  of  his  power  to  understand  and 
assist  the  least  of  his  brethren.  It  is  the  title  he 
loved,  and  by  which  he  named  himself.  Beyond 
all  others  it  reveals  his  significance  and  his  redemp- 
tive service.  It  is  the  badge  of  his  sacrificial  and 
atoning  work. 

PRAYER 

Father  of  spirits:  In  thee  we  have  our  life.  We 
have  called  thee  by  many  names,  but  our  great  Teacher, 
the  Lord  Jesus,  has  made  thee  known  to  us  as  our 
Father  and  his.  In  the  joy  of  that  relation  we  find 
the  fulfilment  of  our  hopes,  and  the  holy  companionship 
of  love  and  service.  And  in  the  clear  shining  of  thy 
presence,  our  Master  becomes  more  fully  known  to  us 
as  Brother,  Teacher,  Savior,  Lord.  Give  us  an 
ampler  measure  of  his  spirit,  we  beseech  thee.  Enable 
us  with  enthusiasm  to  take  up  the  tasks  he  has  left  us. 
Strengthen  us  with  courage  and  virtue  for  the  great 
adventure  of  the  holy  way.  And  may  we  so  live  that 
to  die  shall  be  gain.     Amen. 


XIV 

HAS  THE  CHURCH  A  MESSAGE  FOR 
THE  MODERN  WORLD? 


NATHANIEL  BUTLER 


HAS  THE  CHURCH  A  MESSAGE  FOR  THE 
MODERN  WORLD  ? 

I  am  come  that  they  might  have  life,  and  that  they 
might  have  it  abundantly  (John  lo:  lo). 

The  question  whether  the  church  has  a  message 
for  the  modern  world  cannot  be  regarded  as  merely 
academic.  There  are  those  who  hold  that  it  calls 
for  a  negative  answer,  that  the  church  is  obsolete 
or  at  least  obsolescent,  that  it  is  outgrown,  that  the 
world  seeks  and  needs  a  ministry  that  the  church 
does  not  supply.  That  way  of  disposing  of  it  must 
rest  upon  one  of  two  assumptions:  either  that  the 
church  has  forgotten  her  original  message,  or  that 
that  ancient  message  is  not  adapted  to  modern  life, 
that  it  is  impracticable,  that  modern  life  has  devel- 
oped situations  and  demands  for  which  the  church 
has  no  message,  and  that  we  must  look  to  human 
experience  and  to  secular  education  for  light  and 
guidance.  Is  this  so  ?  Herbert  Spencer  made  the 
world  familiar  with  the  statement  that  the  purpose 
of  education  is  to  train  for  "complete  living." 
Jesus  said,  "I  am  come  that  they  might  have  life, 
and  that  they  might  have  it  abundantly."  What  is 
the  twentieth-century  ideal  of  complete  living,  and 
what  has  personal  relationship  to  Jesus  Christ  to  do 
with  that  ideal? 

Whatever  may  be  the  twentieth-century  ideal 
of  complete  living,  it  is  clearly  not  the  ideal  which 

25s 


256  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

at  certain  former  periods  has  been  entertained. 
Consider,  for  example,  the  ideal  held  under  the 
dominance  of  the  mediaeval  church.  There  is  a 
picture  by  one  of  the  Italian  masters  representing 
the  death  of  an  old  saint.  In  the  center  of  the 
picture  is  the  wasted  and  shrunken  figure  of  the  old 
man  supported  by  strong  arms  and  kindly  hands.  A 
group  of  friends  has  gathered  to  witness  his  trium- 
phant death.  The  triumph  is  understood  to  consist 
in  the  successful  termination  of  a  long  course  of  self- 
repression  and  self-discipline.  The  old  saint  has 
starved  himself,  and  nature  has  given  way,  over- 
come by  the  determination  of  the  spirit  within. 
We  look  upon  the  picture  with  interest  but  without 
sympathy.  It  represents  an  ideal  with  which  we 
do  not  agree.  The  notion  does  not  prevail  in  our 
time  that,  for  the  sake  of  fulfilling  the  purpose 
of  his  existence,  a  man  need  starve  himself  to 
death  or  wear  chains  about  his  neck.  We  do  not 
think  that  the  purpose  of  the  Creator  involves  that 
a  man  should  go  clad  in  filthy  rags,  or  eat  coarse 
or  unpalatable  food,  or  that  he  withhold  himself 
from  the  brightness  and  beauty  of  existence,  and  the 
glory  and  power  of  knowledge,  and  association  with 
wife  and  children  and  fellow-man,  and  withdraw  into 
the  darkness  and  gloom  of  a  convent  cell;  rather 
we  believe  that  God  has  made  the  world  for  us  and 
us  for  the  world,  and  that  the  effort  of  our  lives 
should  be,  not  to  fight  against  the  world,  but  to  bring 
ourselves  into  harmony  with  it.     We  believe  that 


The  Church's  Message  and  the  Modern  World    257 

God  has  made  all  things  for  us  richly  to  enjoy,  and 
that,  instead  of  being  displeased  that  we  should  make 
the  most  of  life  and  the  world,  he  has  given  us  his 
Son,  that  through  him  we  might  have  life  more 
abundantly.  We  feel  that  we  have  a  right  to  use 
and  enjoy  to  the  utmost  this  good  world  in  which  we 
are  placed,  and  we  do  not  willingly  subscribe  to  any 
doctrine  or  discipline  that  would  deprive  us  of  this 
right. 

Perhaps  it  would  be  historically  untrue,  and 
therefore  unfair,  to  state  that  the  mediaeval  church 
ever  directly  and  intentionally  taught  these  extremes 
of  self-denial,  but  it  seems  certain  that  under  the 
influence  of  her  teaching  men  did  practice  these 
excesses;  however,  what  is  pertinent  at  this  moment 
is  that  this  ideal  passed.  The  ideal  of  self-repression 
gave  way  to  self-realization.  The  ideal  of  living  for 
the  world  to  come  gave  way  to  living  for  this  world 
and  this  life,  the  ideal  of  mediaeval  ecclesiasticism 
to  that  of  sixteenth-century  humanism. 

This  new  conception  of  life  affected  man's  attitude 
toward  the  life  of  the  body.  No  longer  was  the 
body  at  its  worst  considered  to  insure  the  mind  and 
soul  at  their  best,  but  rather  the  body  at  its  best  was 
the  indispensable  helper  of  the  mind  and  spirit. 
(Browning  has  expressed  this  ideal: 

Let  us  not  always  say  \ 

"  Spite  of  this  flesh  today 
I  strove,  made  head,  gained  ground 
Upon  the  whole!" 


258  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

f  As  the  bird  wings  and  sings, 

'  Let  us  cry  ''All  good  things 

Are  ours,  nor  soul  helps  flesh  more  now, 
Than  flesh  helps  soul!" 

And  again: 

To  man  propose  this  test. 
Thy  body  at  its  best 
How  far  can  that  project 
Thy  soul  on  its  lone  way  ? 

And  so  of  the  attitude  toward  the  whole  of  Hfe. 
What  man  has  done  in  this  world,  what  man  can  do, 
the  realization  of  human  abilities,  human  oppor- 
tunities— this  was  the  chief  interest.  This  ideal 
has  well  been  called  ^'humanistic,"  for  it  urged 
every  human  being  to  make  the  most  of  himself  in 
this  world.  This  was  the  familiar  expression  of  the 
ideal. 

This  conception  of  life  dominated  Christendom 
for  two  hundred  and  fifty  years,  even  to  the  middle 
of  the  nineteenth  century.  At  first  it  glorified 
the  Individual.  The  Perfection  of  the  Individual, 
this  was  its  goal.  This  was  the  watchword  of  the 
intellectual  and  political  leaders  of  the  eighteenth 
and  early  nineteenth  centuries.  But  it  took  its 
rise  in  the  early  sixteenth  century,  in  the  movement 
known  as  the  Revival  of  Learning.  At  this  dis- 
tance, it  looks  like  an  inevitable  reaction  from  the 
Middle  Ages.  During  that  time  the  individual 
had  little  chance  from  either  church  or  state.  It 
has  even  been  said  that  during  the  Middle  Ages 


The  Churches  Message  and  the  Modern  World    259 

church  and  state  conspired  to  deprive  the  individual 
of  his  rights.  Probably  that  is  not  wholly  true, 
if  it  be  interpreted  to  mean  that  the  leaders  of  the 
church  and  state,  with  a  perfectly  clear  conception 
of  what  was  really  due  the  individual,  deliberately 
planned  to  defraud  him  of  his  rights.  No  doubt 
the  most  sagacious  and  influential  leaders  of  the 
time  saw  clearly  how  much  personal  liberty  might 
safely  be  intrusted  to  the  masses  of  the  people.  Yet 
it  seems  certain  that  there  was  on  the  part  of  the 
leaders  in  church  and  state  a  good  deal  of  selfish  and 
wicked  exploitation  of  the  helpless  many  by  the 
powerful  few.  But  that  was  sure  to  end.  Little 
by  little  the  masses  of  the  people  acquired  wealth 
and  power  and  privilege  and  at  last,  after  the  dark- 
ness of  ecclesiastical  suppression,  and  after  the  dark- 
ness of  political  tyranny  and  oppression,  the  people 
threw  off  the  authority  of  a  blind  church  leading  the 
blind,  and  of  a  selfish  nobility  knowing  no  rights  but 
its  own  desires,  and  asserted  that  no  one  may  stand 
between  a  man  and  his  God  nor  between  the  indi- 
vidual and  his  rights — and  we  have  the  revolution 
in  France,  rationalism  in  England,  and  in  Germany 
the  splendid  humanism  of  Kant  and  of  Goethe, 
Heine,  and  Schiller.  The  glory  and  splendor  of  life 
were  for  every  man  and  woman.  This  ideal  ex- 
pressed itself,  in  the  realm  of  culture,  in  the  term 
"  self-perfection '\;  and  in  the  realm  of  religion,  in 
the  expression  ''the  salvation  of  the  individual 
soul." 


26o  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

This  ideal  of  making  the  most  of  this  world  and  of 
one's  self,  at  first  apparently  admirable,  is  seen  to  be 
consistent  with  utter  selfishness  and  indeed  to  tend 
directly  to  it.  Self-perfection — what  could  be  a 
finer  expression  of  self-centered  interest!  Even 
the  appeal  of  religion  was  of  the  same  sort — that  a 
man  should  insure  the  salvation  of  his  own  soul. 
Bunyan's  Pilgrim  presents  to  us  the  spectacle  of  a 
man  who,  having  realized  that  he  was  in  the  City  of 
Destruction,  and  that  there  was  a  place  of  safety, 
closed  his  ears  to  the  cry  of  wife  and  child  and 
neighbor  and  put  forth  all  his  efforts  for  his  own 
individual  salvation. 

The  nineteenth  century  witnessed  the  utter  trans- 
formation of  this  conception  of  a  complete  life. 
Still  holding  to  the  notion  that  one  is  to  make  the 
most  of  himself,  we  have  come  to  see  that  we  do  and 
can  make  the  most  of  this  world  and  of  ourselves, 
not  by  ourselves,  but  only  in  relation  to  others. 
Our  studies  in  psychology,  history,  and  the  science 
of  society,  as  well  as  our  practical  experience  of  life, 
have  taught  that  there  is  no  such  thing  as  an  unre- 
lated human  being.  If  you  could  find  an  unrelated 
being,  he  would  not  be  human.  If  you  deprive  a 
man  of  human  relations,  you  destroy  him.  It  is  a 
scientific  discovery  that  we  live  the  abundant  life 
not  as  individuals  but  in  relation  to  others.  Never 
before  has  the  social  idea  been  more  familiar  and 
influential.  It  is  the  dominant  note  in  all  our  ethics 
and  in  the  organization  of  business,  and  education. 


The  Church's  Message  and  the  Modern  World    261 

We  value  a  man,  not  by  the  richness  and  abun- 
dance of  what  his  life  contains,  but  by  the  value  of 
its  output.  This  is  the  twentieth-century  ideal. 
Matthew  Arnold  expressed  this  when  he  said, 
quoting  Bishop  Wilson,  that  the  purpose  of  culture 
is,  not  to  make  an  intelligent  being  more  intelligent, 
but  rather  to  make  reason  and  the  will  of  God  pre- 
vail. Paul  said  the  same  thing  in  the  words,  "  that 
a  man  be  perfect,  thoroughly  furnished  for  every 
good  work."  Not  culture  but  fitness  for  good  work, 
this  is  our  measure  of  the  largeness  of  a  man's  life; 
not  what  he  gets  out  of  life  but  what  he  puts  into  life. 

Now  it  is  never  to  be  forgotten  that  this  social 
idea  of  life,  so  famiHar  to  us,  is  the  Christian  idea  of 
life.  It  is  the  direct  fruit  of  Christianity  and  of 
Christianity  alone.  Others,  no  doubt,  before  Christ 
had  caught  the  idea,  but  he  alone  made  it  vital.  It 
has  pervaded  no  civilization  save  Christian  civiliza- 
tion. It  is  the  spirit  of  Christ  dominant  among 
men  that  has,  for  us,  utterly  changed  the  position  of 
woman,  the  care  and  education  of  children,  the 
treatment  of  criminals,  and  the  care  of  the  insane; 
that  has  brought  about  the  liberation  of  slaves, 
the  modern  organization  and  administration  of 
charity,  the  reform  of  society.  To  ruin  modern  life, 
you  have  only  to  take  out  of  it  what  Christ  has 
contributed  to  it.  The  twentieth-century  social 
ideal  is  the  Christian  ideal. 

The  practical  question  at  this  point  is.  How 
are  we  to  insure  that  this  newer  and  larger  conception 


262  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

of  life  will  actually  dominate  our  boys  and  girls, 
as  they  emerge  into  manhood  and  womanhood? 
Probably  it  has  never  been  more  distinctly  present 
to  the  consciousness  of  educators  that  the  pre- 
eminent problem  of  the  school  is  the  problem  of 
fixing  the  relation  of  boys  and  girls  to  citizenship. 
The  broad  interpretation  and  successful  accomphsh- 
ment  of  that  end  would  seem  to  embrace  in  itself 
all  the  other  desirable  ends  of  education.  Intelli- 
gent interest  in  the  common  welfare;  intelligent 
purpose  to  promote  the  things  best  for  the  city — 
justice,  private  and  public  honesty,  fellowship — 
these  are  what  give  value  and  meaning  to  plans 
for  the  "city  beautiful,"  housing  reform,  parks  and 
playgrounds,  industrial  education,  efforts  for  social 
betterment.  Are  the  boys  and  girls  growing  up 
really  to  care  for  these  things  ?  How  are  we  going 
to  guarantee  that  ?  "By  education,"  we  have  said, 
and  the  press  demands  it,  and  doubtless  this  is  the 
true  answer,  but  true  only  if  we  conceive  education 
somewhat  differently  from  the  way  in  which  it  has 
been  conceived  traditionally. 

Shortly  before  his  death,  the  late  Professor 
William  James,  in  a  lecture  at  the  University  of 
Chicago,  referred  to  the  traditional  conception  of 
education,  that  it  consists  solely  in  that  discipline 
which  trains  people  to  think  and  to  know;  and  he 
remarked  that  we  used  to  hold  that  if  we  were  suc- 
cessful in  that  discipline,  we  should  secure  the 
millennium,  our  logic  being,  that  if  people  only  know 


The  Churches  Message  and  the  Modern  World    263 

enough  and  think  clearly,  surely  no  one  will  wish  to 
be  a  thief  or  a  murderer  or  a  disturber  of  the  peace; 
and  this  assumes  that  all  transgression  is  due  to 
ignorance  or  unclear  thinking.  But  he  reminded  us 
that  this  conclusion  is  not  justified  by  observation 
and  experience.  No  matter  how  thoroughly  you 
inform  and  train  the  intellect,  it  always  remains  the 
servant  of  the  passions.  What  men  do  is  deter- 
mined, not  by  what  they  know,  but  by  what  they 
want  to  do.  "Reason,''  said  he,  "appears  to  have 
been  given  to  men  chiefly  that  they  may  discover 
reasons  for  doing  what  they  like.''  Professor 
Huxley,  in  a  memorable  paragraph  enumerating  the 
elements  that  enter  into  a  liberal  education,  arrives 
at  the  same  chmax.  "That  man,"  said  he,  "has 
had  a  liberal  education  whose  body  has  been  so 
trained  in  youth  that  it  is  the  ready  servant  of  his 
will  and  does  with  ease  and  pleasure  all  that  as  a 
mechanism  it  is  capable  of;  whose  intellect  is  a 
clear,  cold,  logical  engine  with  all  its  parts  of  equal 
strength  and  in  smooth  working  order  ready  like  a 
steam  engine  to  be  turned  to  any  kind  of  work  and 
spin  the  gossamers  or  forge  the  anchors  of  the  mind; 
whose  mind  is  stored  with  a  knowledge  of  the  great 
and  fundamental  forces  of  nature  and  of  the  laws 
of  their  operations;  one  who,  no  stunted  ascetic,  is 
full  of  life  and  fire,  but  whose  passions  have  been 
trained  to  come  to  heel  by  a  vigorous  will;  the 
servant  of  a  tender  conscience;  one  who  has  learned 
to  love  all  beauty  whether  of  nature  or  of  art; 


264  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

to  hate  all  vileness  and  to  esteem  others  as  him- 
self.'^  Such  expressions  show  that  we  now  insist 
that  the  ultimate  value  of  education  is  to  be  ex- 
pressed not  in  terms  of  intelligence  but  in  terms  of 
conduct  and  character,  and  that  the  supreme  fruit 
of  education  is  sound  and  appropriate  conduct. 

Accordingly  we  are  seeking  to  supply  the  defi- 
ciency in  our  educational  procedure  by  ''religious 
education."  But  we  shall  fail  in  our  effort  if  we 
assume  that  religious  education  means  simply  the 
supplying  of  religious  instruction.  There  are  in 
fact  two  distinct  ends  proposed  in  religious  education. 
One  of  these  ends  is  the  imparting  of  religious 
information  and  the  securing  of  general  religious  in- 
telligence by  studies  and  recitations  in  the  history 
of  the  sacred  book,  in  the  biographies  of  religious 
leaders,  and  in  the  study  of  religious  doctrines. 
The  other  of  the  ends  sought  is  the  establishment 
in  the  individual  of  the  religious  disposition  and 
character.  Either  of  these  ends  may  be  secured 
almost  independently  of  the  other.  At  all  events, 
the  imparting  of  religious  instruction  does  not 
necessarily  secure  the  religious  spirit  and  charac- 
ter. We  are  coming  to  feel  more  and  more 
distinctly  that  the  securing  of  the  latter  of  these 
two  ends  is  absolutely  essential  to  complete  educa- 
tion. Education  and  religion  propose  really  the 
same  objective,  namely,  the  relating  of  every  indi- 
vidual intelligently  and  soundly  to  the  world  in 
which  he  is  to  live.     There  can  be  no  complete  edu- 


The  Church'' s  Message  and  the  Modern  World    265 

cation  that  does  not  inculcate  the  sanctions  of 
reHgion.  Without  these,  morality  always  tends 
to  become  in  effect  merely  a  code  of  etiquette  and 
conventions.  The  discipline  that  will  insure  good 
citizenship,  the  discipline  that  will  actually  inject 
into  the  veins  and  build  into  the  nerves  and  muscles 
the  disposition  and  habit  of  doing  justly,  loving 
mercy,  and  walking  humbly  with  God  and  helpfully 
with  our  fellows,  must  be  charged  with  the  vital 
energy  and  splendid  idealism  of  the  gospel  of  Christ. 
It  must  bring  the  individual  into  vital  personal 
relations  with  him,  so  that  his  ideals,  motives, 
principles  shall  be  actually  taken  up  into  the  simple 
first-hand  relations  of  life.  Faith  in  Christ  means 
precisely  that.  In  the  realm  of  religion  faith  has 
exactly  the  same  meaning  as  everywhere  else. 
Faith  means  accepting  a  thing  so  warmly  and  vitally 
that  we  are  willing  to  act  upon  it.  Faith  in  God  is 
acting  as  if  there  were  a  God.  Faith  in  Jesus 
Christ  consists  in  acting  as  if  he  were  our  authority. 
Faith  must  express  itself  in  works.  If  you  have 
faith  in  Christ,  your  hands  and  feet  and  tongue 
express  it.  If  you  have  faith  in  Christ,  you  know 
that  God  really  cares  for  individual  children  and 
men  and  women,  and  all  who  are  in  any  sort  of 
trouble  become  to  us  the  expression  of  his  direct 
appeal,  for  he  comes  to  us  in  men,  women,  and 
children,  and  we  can  practice  the  principles  of  Jesus 
nowhere  save  in  our  relation  to  men,  women,  and 
children.     In  his  picture  of  the  last  judgment  he 


266  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

makes  the  ground  of  commendation  or  condemna- 
tion the  way  in  which  we  have  behaved  toward  our 
fellow-men. 

There  are  those  who  are  alarmed  at  the  tendency 
to  socialize  religion.  We  have  even  been  warned 
against  the  '^danger  of  social  service."  That 
warning  is  indeed  timely  and  needed.  Doubtless 
it  would  be  a  fatal  calamity  if  the  churches  should 
become  mere  agents  of  social  service.  That  is 
properly  where  the  warning  is  needed.  It  would  be 
a  sad  error  to  hold  that  the  whole  of  religion  con- 
sists in  organized  charity,  in  better  housing,  in 
improved  sanitation,  in  parks  and  playgrounds  for 
the  alley  children,  and  in  fresh-air  sanitariums  for 
sick  babies  of  the  poor.  Surely  these  are  not 
religion,  but  surely  they  are  the  expression  and  fruit 
of  religion,  and  it  is  hard  to  conceive  of  vital  religion 
in  the  modern  world  that  does  not  express  itself 
in  such  ways.  It  may  even  be  conceded  that  the 
church  as  such  should  not  be  the  direct  and  imme- 
diate agent  in  organizing  these  things,  but  if  the 
church  does  not  function  somewhere  along  the  line 
in  social  service,  and  if  she  does  not  inculcate  the 
sort  of  religion  that  realizes  itself  in  the  organization 
of  society,  she  is  not  the  church  of  Jesus  Christ.  He 
was  the  greatest  socializer  of  his  gospel,  and  there  can 
be  no  danger  in  the  social  service  to  which  the 
interpretation  of  the  teachings  of  Jesus  will  lead  us. 

In  a  great  and  characteristic  address,  Dr.  John 
Clifford  of  London  said: 


The  Churches  Message  and  the  Modern  World    267 

A  truth  that  is  being  ground  out  of  the  European  logic 
mill  of  life  for  the  coming  generations  is  that  the  churches 
must  take  the  lead  in  the  recovery  and  advocacy  of  the  true 
social  ideal  of  Jesus  expressed  in  those  key  phrases  of  his 
ministry,  ''the  Kingdom  of  God"  and  "the  Kingdom  of 
heaven."  Surging  to  the  front  all  over  Europe,  with  an 
energy  that  cannot  be  resisted,  are  the  problems  concerned 
with  the  rebuilding  of  human  society  as  a  city  of  God. 
Everywhere  we  are  face  to  face  with  the  backward  and  brutal 
conditions  of  labor,  the  need  for  a  minimum  wage  as  a  first 
charge  on  industry;  the  relations  of  men,  and  women,  and 
children  in  the  home,  in  economics,  and  in  the  state;  the 
fatal  elements  in  the  fundamental  structure  of  civil  society. 
There  is  a  deep  and  growing  sense  of  injustice  in  the  millions 
of  European  toilers.  It  is  there  even  when  men  are  only 
dimly  conscious  of  it,  and  it  begets  unrest  and  impatience 
and  anxiety  in  the  mass  of  them,  spasms  of  rebellion  in 
many,  and  persistent  anarchy  in  a  few.  It  is  an  alarming 
portent,  and  the  churches  of  Christ,  according  to  their 
Creator's  will,  are  charged  to  deal  with  it — "to  preach 
good  news  to  the  poor,"  to  study  the  real  causes  of  their 
sufferings,  and  to  inspire  continuous  toil  to  remove  their 
wrongs;  nor  can  they  be  faithful  to  him,  or  to  their  accepted 
trust,  or  to  the  millions  of  their  brothers  and  sisters  if  they 
ignore  the  real  facts  of  our  social  life,  or  are  content  to  heal 
the  wounds  of  the  commonwealth  slightly.  History  and 
experience  are  telling  us  that  nothing  completely  succeeds 
in  these  matters  except  the  Christianity  of  Christ  Jesus,  and 
that  society  will  never  be  right  till  it  is  really  Christian  from 
top  to  bottom  and  all  the  way  through. 

This  means  for  the  individual,  not  preparation 
for  the  v^orld  to  come  as  an  end  in  itself,  not  the 
attainment  of  self-perfection  as  an  end  in  itself,  but 
fruitfulness    in    actual   human   relations.    This   is 


268  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

the  twentieth-century  ideal  and  the  Christian  ideal 
of  complete  living.  And  the  message  of  the  church 
to  modern  life  is  the  translation  of  this  ideal  into 
terms  of  the  gospel  of  Christ. 

PRAYER 

Almighty  God:  Grant  that  we  may  always,  and  most 
of  all,  desire  the  coming  of  thy  blessed  Kingdom  on 
earth.  Make  each  of  us  able  to  see  how  we  may, 
where  we  stand  and  work,  serve  thee  in  this  great 
purpose  of  thine.  Take  from  us  anger  and  greed  and 
indolence  and  every  selfish  impulse.  Heal  our  blind- 
ness and  recall  us  from  indifference.  May  no  sacrifice 
that  we  can  actually  make  and  no  service  that  we  can 
actually  perform  find  us  unwilling.  Make  us  good 
citizens  of  thy  Kingdom,  through  Jesus  Christ  our 
Lord.    Amen. 


XV 

THE  NEW  HEAVEN  AND  THE  NEW 
EARTH 

BY 

GERALD  BIRNEY  SMITH 


THE  NEW  HEAVEN  AND  THE  NEW  EARTH 

But  according  to  the  promise  we  look  for  a  new  heaven 
and  a  new  earth,  wherein  dwelleth  righteousness  (II  Pet. 
3:13)- 

The  chapter  from  which  this  text  is  taken  opens  a 
glimpse  into  a  world  of  religious  thought  so  strange 
that  it  is  difficult  for  us  rightly  to  appreciate  the 
emotions  and  purposes  which  clothed  themselves  in 
that  ancient  millenarian  garb.  Impressed  as  we  are 
today  with  the  consciousness  of  the  infinite  resources 
of  the  world  in  which  we  live,  such  a  message  of 
longing  for  the  catastrophe  when  all  that  is  now 
visible  to  us  shall  ''be  dissolved  with  fervent  heat" 
seems  like  a  curious  misreading  of  divine  providence. 
Nevertheless  those  who  best  know  the  early  days 
of  Christianity  recognize  in  this  very  longing  one  of 
the  strong  motives  which  originally  made  for  persist- 
ent courage  and  trust.  Primitive  Christian  faith 
was  founded  in  part  upon  a  confident  belief  in  the 
speedy  advent  of  the  day  of  judgment,  when  the 
wicked  opponents  of  the  Lord  should  be  destroyed 
and  the  loyal  followers  of  Jesus  should  be  rescued 
from  the  scorn  and  persecution  which  they  had 
endured  and  should  enter  upon  their  conspicuous 
triumph  in  the  new  kingdom  of  righteousness.  So 
long  as  this  hope  of  deliverance  was  kept  clear  and 
strong,  the  trials  and  tragedies  of  the  present  could 
be  endured  with  fortitude. 

271 


272  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

But  when  the  Epistle  from  which  our  text  comes 
was  written,  there  was  a  more  or  less  widespread 
skepticism  arising  on  this  very  point.  Men  who  had 
been  trying  to  be  brave  and  patient,  hstening  day 
after  day  to  the  exhortations  of  hope,  looking  every 
morning  for  the  signs  of  the  coming  of  the  Lord,  and 
praying  every  night  for  the  speedy  consummation 
of  their  desires,  were  beginning  to  become  restive. 
Voices  were  heard  challenging  the  Christian  mes- 
sage, saying,  "Where  is  the  promise  of  his  coming? 
For  from  the  day  when  the  fathers  fell  asleep,  all 
things  continue  as  they  were  from  the  beginning 
of  creation."  Instead  of  the  cosmic  revolution  upon 
which  their  hopes  depended.  Christians  beheld  the 
unvarying  monotony  of  the  customary  processes  of 
nature.  Was  there,  then,  any  reason  to  hope  that 
the  days  to  come  would  be  any  different  from  those 
which  were  past  ?  Was  not  the  uniformity  of  nature 
giving  the  lie  to  a  faith  based  upon  miracle  ?  Was 
there  really  any  ground  to  expect  that  the  Roman 
power  would  be  overthrown  ?  Was  there  any  pros- 
pect that  the  misery  due  to  oppression  and  mis- 
government  would  be  brought  to  an  end  by  a 
glorious  advent  of  the  Lord?  Was  not  the  Chris- 
tian hope  vain  ?  Would  it  not  be  better  to  abandon 
this  exalted  vision  of  a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth, 
and  frankly  to  face  the  task  of  making  the  most  out 
of  present  conditions  ?     So  men  were  reasoning. 

The  issue  is  thus  squarely  drawn.  Put  in  more 
general  terms  it  is  the  question  whether  life  is  more 


The  New  Heaven  and  the  New  Earth       273 

truly  interpreted  by  the  vision  of  a  blessedness 
which  is  yet  to  be  realized;  or  whether  we  should 
recognize  frankly  that  humanity  is  not  likely  to 
transcend  the  accompHshments  which  seem  to  have 
been  regulated  by  the  law  of  uniformity.  Shall 
we  look  for  a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth?  Or 
shall  we  settle  down  to  the  prosaic  task  of  con- 
formity to  the  very  unsatisfactory  world  which  we 
have? 

The  answer  which  the  author  of  this  Epistle 
makes  to  this  query  is  prompt  and  plain.  Not  for 
a  moment  does  he  contemplate  the  possibility  of  a 
Christianity  which  shall  have  lost  its  vision.  He 
hastens  to  reassure  the  faint  hearts.  "The  Lord  is 
not  slack  concerning  his  promise."  God  is  delaying 
only  in  order  that  a  larger  number  may  have  oppor- 
tunity to  repent  and  to  gain  the  certainty  of  belong- 
ing to  that  blessed  community  which  shall  welcome 
the  coming  of  the  Lord.  Moreover,  with  that  happy 
faculty  for  translating  issues  into  terms  of  infinity 
which  is  the  refuge  of  so  many  makers  of  theodicies, 
the  writer  urges  the  readers  to  remember  that  how- 
ever long  the  time  may  seem  to  them,  it  is  not  long 
to  God  who  dwells  from  everlasting  to  everlasting. 
What  is  a  thousand  years  in  the  sight  of  God  ?  It 
is  but  as  a  day  to  us.  Let  us  not  measure  the  divine 
plans  by  our  own  impatience.  Let  us  be  confident 
that  in  his  own  good  time  the  Lord  will  fulfil  his 
promise.  Therefore  Christians  ought  not  to  be 
faint-hearted,  but  to  be  ever  zealous  in  good  works  in 


2  74  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

order  to  be  heirs  of  the  kingdom  when  it  comes. 
For  "according  to  the  promise  we  look  for  a  new 
heaven  and  a  new  earth,  wherein  dwelleth  righteous- 
ness." 

It  is  somewhat  difficult  today  to  do  justice  to  this 
type  of  Christian  preaching.  To  us  it  seems  so  evi- 
dent that  the  millennial  hope  was  a  delusion  that  we 
are  prone  to  leap  to  the  conclusion  that  a  faith  which 
rested  upon  it  must  have  been  unwholesome.  The 
word  "other-worldly"  which  we  commonly  employ 
to  characterize  this  kind  of  religion  has  for  us  an 
undesirable  sound.  We  are  tempted  to  look  upon 
the  other-worldliness  of  millenarians  as  a  refined 
sort  of  selfishness,  a  deliberate  attempt  to  lay  up 
treasures  in  heaven  at  the  expense  of  the  earthly 
treasures  of  culture  and  civilization.  But  we  must 
not  identify  this  early  Christian  hope  with  the  ascetic 
individualism  of  later  ages.  The  kingdom  hope  of 
the  early  church  was  inherited  from  Israel.  It  took 
shape  in  response  to  that  intense  patriotism  which 
was  at  the  heart  of  the  religion  of  the  Hebrews. 
For  the  child  of  Israel  religion  always  meant  pa- 
triotism. The  utterances  of  the  Old  Testament  are 
almost  never  purely  individualistic.  The  religious 
Hebrew  thought  of  his  own  fate  as  bound  up  with 
the  fate  of  the  nation.  Salvation  must  come  in 
terms  of  national  deliverance.  So  confirmed  a 
trait  of  thought  was  this  that,  even  in  the  days  of 
national  disaster,  the  Jew  could  not  be  content  with 
a  purely  personal  rehgion.     He  must  look  forward 


The  New  Heaven  and  the  New  Earth       275 

to  a  future  time  when  the  righteous  community,  of 
which  he  was  to  be  a  member,  should  enjoy  the  favor 
of  God.  Out  of  God's  heaven  would  come  at  some 
time  the  power  to  restore  the  kingdom  to  Israel. 

The  establishment  of  the  kingdom,  however, 
seemed  to  many  ardent  souls  to  be  a  task  beyond 
the  capacity  of  man  to  accomplish.  The  faithful 
must  await  the  advent  of  the  heaven-sent  prince, 
who  with  miraculous  power  could  achieve  the  seem- 
ingly impossible.  Thus  cosmic  catastrophe  was 
expected  to  reveal  a  might  greater  than  that  of 
the  Roman  emperor.  This  earth  which  he  so  confi- 
dently ruled  was  to  be  utterly  destroyed,  together 
with  all  the  works  of  iniquity.  A  new  earth  was  to 
furnish  a  proper  home  for  the  righteous  community. 
Miraculous  as  was  the  manner  of  its  coming,  in  its 
essence  it  was  to  be  a  kingdom  of  love  and  mutual 
service.  Tyranny  and  oppression  were  to  vanish; 
for  all  men  were  to  live  together  as  brothers.  Sick- 
ness and  sorrow  were  to  be  driven  out;  for  where 
there  is  no  sin  there  will  be  no  suffering  due  to  sin. 
The  former  things  were  to  vanish  away,  and  only 
love  and  purity  and  holy  joy  were  to  be  found. 
With  all  its  miraculous  and  transcendent  elements, 
the  kingdom  was  to  be  a  new  social  community  on 
earth. 

The  early  Christians  inherited  this  religious  patri- 
otism. They,  too,  thought  of  the  consummation  of 
the  kingdom  as  the  establishment  of  a  righteous 
society.     Indeed,  for  early  faith,  death  was  esteemed 


276  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

a  misfortune;  for  the  original  disciples  expected 
to  see  in  their  own  lifetime  the  advent  of  the 
kingdom.  It  was  only  as  they  were  assured  of 
the  resurrection  of  the  saints  to  share  in  the 
coming  social  order  that  they  were  comforted. 
So  the  author  of  this  Epistle  from  which  our  text 
is  taken  does  not  promise  men  a  mystical  trans- 
portation to  a  heaven  of  self-satisfied  bliss.  He 
promises  a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth,  wherein 
dwelleth  righteousness.  Therefore  he  urges  the 
Christians  to  be  faithful  in  the  pursuit  of  that 
righteousness  which  will  fit  them  to  be  worthy  mem- 
bers of  the  kingdom  of  righteousness  when  it  comes. 
The  patriotic  religious  ideals  of  the  loyal  Jews  were 
by  the  Christians  transferred  to  the  future  city  of 
God  in  which  they  felt  that  their  citizenship  was 
secure.  If  we  lose  sight  of  this  social  and  patriotic 
element  in  the  early  Christian  faith  we  omit  an 
essential  portion  of  the  kingdom  hope. 

But  the  expected  miracle  did  not  occur.  So 
far  as  outward  events  were  concerned,  the  scoffers 
were  right.  Even  down  to  this  twentieth  century 
after  Christ  "all  things  continue  as  they  were  from 
the  beginning  of  creation."  The  apologetic  argu- 
ment of  the  author  of  this  Epistle  has  lost  its  force  for 
most  of  us.  To  be  sure,  there  are  always  those  who 
have  the  detachment  of  mind  necessary  to  ignore  the 
tremendous  weight  of  the  teachings  of  science,  and 
who  in  good  conscience  can  still  pray  for  the  speedy 
coming  of  the  great  final  catastrophe.     But  the 


The  New  Heaven  and  the  New  Earth       277 

number  of  such  is  small.  Few  of  us  really  expect 
the  end  of  this  world  within  the  lifetime  of  our 
generation.  More  and  more  are  we  becoming 
accustomed  to  the  thought  of  a  future  extending  over 
millions  of  years  during  which  man  will  be  compelled 
to  live  on  this  planet  with  no  resources  save  those 
which  are  already  here.  It  is  easy  for  one  to  draw 
the  conclusion  that  because  the  kingdom  hope  of 
the  early  church  has  proved  delusive,  therefore  the 
Christian  faith  itself  is  not  to  be  trusted.  It  cannot 
be  denied  that  the  abandonment  of  the  appeal  to  the 
supernatural  brings  a  strong  pressure  to  abandon 
any  attempt  to  guide  and  inspire  life  by  a  vision 
located  in  the  future.  Is  it  not  better  to  turn  from 
the  ecstasy  of  the  prophet  or  from  the  dreams  of 
the  mystic  to  the  plain  facts  which  are  to  be  read  in 
the  past  ?  Shall  we  not  do  better  to  regard  man  as 
the  product  of  well-known  forces  rather  than  as  the 
expectant  heir  of  an  unseen  future  ? 

Now  the  remarkable  fact  which  confronts  us  as 
we  look  at  the  history  of  our  religion  is  the  persistence 
with  which  Christian  faith  has  insisted  upon  the 
better  future  as  the  source  of  its  hope  and  courage. 
While  the  note  of  this  Second  Epistle  of  Peter  was 
frequently  sounded  in  the  later  ages,  the  main 
streams  of  Christian  faith  and  activity  were  diverted 
into  other  channels.  The  vision  of  a  righteous 
kingdom  was  radically  changed  in  form  and  in  con- 
tent; but  the  expectation  of  a  future  triumph  of  God 
over  the  enemies  of  righteousness  was  too  precious 


278  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

to  be  abandoned.  Sometimes,  indeed,  it  found 
expression  in  an  individualistic  mysticism.  Some- 
times it  was  interpreted  in  terms  of  an  aristocratic 
ideal  of  esoteric  philosophy.  Sometimes  it  took 
the  form  of  a  grim  joy  in  conserving  the  structure 
of  primitive  faith  against  the  attacks  of  pagans  or 
"enlightened"  Christians.  But  in  one  way  or 
another  Christianity  has  preserved  its  emphasis  on 
the  transforming  power  of  a  confident  expectation 
that  God's  reign  will  be  established.  Not  as  mere 
products  of  the  past,  but  as  heirs  of  a  glorious  future 
are  men  to  live  and  aspire. 

It  was  this  faith  in  God's  future  which  inspired 
the  wonderful  achievements  of  the  mediaeval 
church.  The  early  Christians  had,  it  is  true, 
found  themselves  compelled  to  await  a  miracle  from 
heaven  to  break  the  power  of  Rome.  But  in  the 
year  410  an  event  occurred  which  seemed  to  the 
imagination  of  holy  men  sufficient  evidence  that 
the  miracle  had  taken  place.  Alaric,  the  Goth,  at 
the  head  of  an  army  of  barbarians,  entered  the 
imperial  city  of  Rome  and  spoiled  it  at  his  will.  It 
was  the  visible  sign  of  the  invisible  destruction  of 
the  power  of  the  Caesars.  That  mighty  empire 
which  had  buttressed  itself  with  untold  wealth  and 
power,  which  seemed  as  nearly  immortal  as  any 
earthly  institution  could  be,  had  been  forced  to  bow 
in  the  dust.  This  seemed  the  end  of  an  era.  To 
whom  should  men  turn  in  their  distress?  Who 
could  protect  them  from  the  horrors  of  anarchy? 


The  New  Heaven  and  the  New  Earth       279 

Where  should  be  found  the  forces  of  law  and  order  ? 
We  know  how  nobly  the  Roman  bishops  responded 
to  this  cry  of  need,  how  the  church  gradually  found 
itself  compelled  to  take  the  place  of  the  empire 
and  to  administer  justice.  To  Augustine  this  was 
evidence  that  the  long-expected  millennium  had 
come.  The  church,  divinely  instituted  and  divinely 
commissioned,  was  the  city  of  God  from  heaven 
which  was  to  organize  the  new  earth,  in  which  only 
Christian  principles  should  be  allowed  to  prevail. 
The  dream  of  Hildebrand  was  but  the  serious 
attempt  to  put  into  effect  this  religious  faith.  He 
believed  that  through  the  authority  of  the  church 
the  new  earth  could  be  created  in  which  should 
dwell  only  that  righteousness  in  which  the  Catholic 
church  believed.  Earthly  kings  and  potentates  were 
to  bow  before  the  word  of  the  Lord  spoken  through 
his  viceregent  on  earth.  Commerce  and  industry 
were  to  take  from  the  church  the  rules  under  which 
they  should  be  allowed  to  flourish.  From  birth  to 
death  the  individual  was  to  rely  upon  the  church 
for  blessing  and  for  direction.  There  was  to  be  one 
faith,  one  morality,  one  political  power.  And  all 
was  to  be  ordained  of  God.  The  learning  of  the 
ancients  was  to  serve  the  interests  of  Christian 
theology.  The  politics  of  the  Roman  empire  were 
to  be  consecrated  to  the  service  of  the  church.  The 
rituals  and  myths  of  paganism  were  to  be  trans- 
formed into  channels  of  instruction  and  inspiration 
for  the  Christian  life.     Thus  did  the  men  of  the 


28o  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

Middle  Ages  live  in  the  confident  belief  in  the 
sovereignty  of  God  on  earth.  Civilization  was  to  be 
completely  Christianized.  Guided  by  the  church, 
men  were  to  be  freed  from  sin,  taught  to  think 
correctly,  led  into  paths  of  righteousness  by  the 
precepts  of  Christianity,  and  made  to  feel  that  the 
only  true  significance  of  the  present  earth  is  to 
furnish  a  place  for  the  triumph  of  the  church. 

Nor  was  this  interpretation  of  the  kingdom  hope 
confined  to  Catholicism.  Did  not  Calvin  in  Geneva 
attempt  precisely  the  same  program  on  a  smaller 
scale?  Did  he  not  hold  that  we  may  draw  from 
the  Bible  divine  direction  for  a  righteous  state? 
Did  not  Cromwell  believe  himself  commissioned  to 
establish  a  state  in  which  should  dwell  the  righteous- 
ness of  God  ?  Did  not  our  Puritan  fathers  attempt 
to  construct  in  America  a  theocracy  from  which  all 
wickedness  should  be  banished  by  divine  authority  ? 
All  these  splendid  achievements  of  the  Christianity 
of  the  past  were  based  upon  the  belief  that  God 
had  made  available  from  heaven  the  forces  by  which 
a  new  earth  could  be  created,  in  which  should  dwell 
righteousness.  How  much  we  owe  to  this  noble 
aspiration  of  the  church  it  is  hard  to  estimate. 
Changed  in  form,  indeed,  but  none  the  less  confi- 
dent in  tone,  the  kingdom  hope  kept  Christians  from 
discouragement  and  indifference  through  the  long 
ages  in  which  our  modern  world  was  taking  shape. 

But  today  this  mediaeval  form  of  the  hope  is 
losing  its  cogency.     The  dream  of  Hildebrand  is 


The  New  Heaven  and  the  New  Earth       281 

reduced  to  the  pitiful  fiction  maintained  by  an  old 
man  who  proclaims  himself  a  prisoner  in  the  Vatican. 
Where  are  now  the  "blue  laws"  by  which  Calvinism 
hoped  to  constitute  a  genuine  Christian  state? 
Many  of  them  are  on  our  statute  books  still,  but 
they  stand  simply  as  survivals  of  an  abandoned 
ideal.  It  is  true  that  our  consciences  still  feel  the 
power  of  this  mediaeval  ideal.  We  are  reluctant 
frankly  to  repeal  the  puritan  statutes  from  our 
statute  books.  Nevertheless  few  men  have  any 
confident  hope  that  these  regulations  will  really  be 
revived.  And  as  the  dissolution  of  the  mediaeval 
dream  progresses,  there  is  a  growing  skepticism  con- 
cerning the  practicability  of  a  Christianity  which  has, 
it  would  seem,  so  conspicuously  failed  to  organize 
a  church-state.  The  man  who  hopes  to  see  the 
puritan  regime  restored,  or  the  Bible  made  supreme 
in  the  public  schools,  or  secular  amusements  abol- 
ished, must  indeed  be  discouraged  as  he  follows  the 
course  of  events.  Where,  indeed,  is  the  vision  of 
the  fathers?  Are  we  not  repeating  the  history  of 
Babylon  of  old  or  of  Rome  with  her  pagan  pomp  ? 
Are  not  all  things  as  they  have  been  since  the  begin- 
ning of  creation  ?  Is  it  not  true,  as  more  than  one 
vehement  voice  in  our  day  has  said,  that  Christianity 
has  had  its  chance,  and  has  conspicuously  failed? 
Is  there  the  slightest  reason  to  expect  that  through 
Christianity  a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth  will 
appear  in  which  righteousness  shall  prevail  ?  Where, 
indeed,  are  we  to  look  for  our  deliverance  if  the 


282  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

hopes  of  the  early  disciples  and  the  hopes  of  the 
mediaeval  church  have  alike  proved  false  ? 

To  a  similar  question  asked  of  him  by  the  Phari- 
sees, Jesus  once  replied,  "The  kingdom  of  God 
Cometh  not  with  observation;  neither  shall  they  say, 
Lo,  here!  or  there!  for  lo,  the  kingdom  of  God  is  in 
the  midst  of  you." 

The  new  heavens  are  here.  While  the  Catholic 
church,  secure  in  its  consciousness  of  present  power, 
was  frankly  laying  plans  to  increase  and  to  maintain 
its  spiritual  and  temporal  dominion,  a  quiet  scholar 
was  unobtrusively  at  work  in  the  city  of  Rome. 
After  long  reflection  on  the  movements  of  the  heav- 
enly bodies,  he  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
commonly  accepted  view  of  the  relation  between  the 
earth  and  the  heavens  was  incorrect.  For  centuries 
men  had  looked  up  to  the  stars,  believing  that 
behind  them  in  some  mysterious  fashion  resided 
miraculous  beings  and  powers  which  might  intervene 
to  change  the  course  of  history.  Copernicus  made 
this  belief  forever  impossible  by  his  theory  that  the 
earth  itself  is  only  one  of  myriad  heavenly  bodies. 

This  revolutionary  doctrine  at  first  brought  con- 
sternation to  the  minds  of  religious  men.  Copernicus 
seemed  to  have  abolished  the  heavenly  host  with  all 
their  powers.  If  it  be  true  that  the  earth  is  one  of 
the  heavenly  bodies,  then  we  have  nothing  more 
to  hope  from  the  heavens  than  from  the  earth. 
Revelation,  miracle,  apocalypse,  divine  deliver- 
ance, all  seemed  impossible  if  the  new  astronomy 


The  New  Heaven  and  the  New  Earth       283 

were  true.  To  this  very  day  the  consciousness  of 
the  church  reflects  this  tremendous  sense  of  loss. 
Ecclesiastical  decrees  and  theological  denunciation 
were  hurled  at  the  new  scientists,  in  the  hope  of 
silencing  those  who  were  overthrowing  confidence  in 
the  gospel  of  a  miraculous  deliverance.  But  little 
by  little  the  new  astronomy  has  conquered.  The 
consequences  have  not  yet  been  consistently  felt  by 
the  religious  consciousness.  In  our  prayers  and  in 
our  theology  we  still  do  our  thinking  largely  in 
terms  of  the  Ptolemaic  world-picture.  Slowly,  how- 
ever, we  are  coming  to  see  that  we  cannot  longer 
regard  the  heavens  as  a  far-away  realm  of  magic  out 
of  which  may  come  unexpected  catastrophes.  There 
are  no  resources  in  the  heavens  which  are  not  already 
available  on  earth. 

But  the  negative  side  of  this  discovery  of  the 
new  heavens  is  only  half  of  the  story.  If  it  be  true 
that  we  may  no  longer  hope  for  the  establishment 
of  righteousness  by  a  cosmic  catastrophe  or  by  a 
divinely  commissioned  political  church,  it  is  none 
the  less  true  that  out  of  the  new  heavens  we  have 
been  seeing  a  new  earth  develop.  Slowly  but  surely 
the  same  method  of  inquiry  which  resulted  in  the 
establishment  of  the  new  heavens  is  creating  a  new 
earth.  Scientific  investigation  is  making  antiquated 
the  maxims  of  our  forefathers  by  revealing  aston- 
ishing resources  in  the  earth.  Who  can  contem- 
plate the  majestic  speed  of  a  limited  express  train 
today  without  a  sense  of  awe  that  such  marvels 


284  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

should  be  within  our  control  ?  We  do  not  have  to 
wait  passively  for  miracles  to  occur,  but  are  instead 
free  to  command  marvels  to  serve  us.  Coal  and 
steam  are  now  performing  tasks  beside  which 
the  petty  miracles  of  the  saints  are  like  child's 
play.  Medical  science  is  saving  the  lives  of  thou- 
sands whom  the  prayers  and  rites  of  mediaeval 
faith  could  not  heal.  The  advertisements  of  the 
luxurious  trains  between  Chicago  and  New  York 
are  full  of  marvels  quite  as  extraordinary  as  those 
depicted  in  the  messianic  kingdom  of  the  Books  of 
Enoch.  The  vision  of  Pasteur  banishes  sickness 
and  pain  no  less  confidently  than  the  vision  of  the 
Revelator.  The  splendors  and  luxuries  of  modern 
cities  are  quite  as  striking  as  the  glories  of  the  celes- 
tial city  of  apocalypse.  The  new  earth  is  appearing. 
We  have  caught  a  glimpse  of  its  possibilities.  But 
it  doth  not  yet  appear  what  it  shall  be.  We  are 
actually  dwelling  in  a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth, 
wherein  dwelleth — ^what?  What  share  has  Chris- 
tianity in  the  creation  of  this  marvelous  world  of 
modern  civilization?  Dare  we  say  that  in  it  shall 
dwell  righteousness  ?  Or  have  we  been  so  absorbed 
in  regretting  the  loss  of  our  previous  visions  that  we 
have  not  awakened  to  the  fact  that  this  new  world 
of  ours  is  being  built  up  by  the  very  science  which 
religious  faith  has  too  often  despised  and  reviled  ?  It 
is  imperative  that  we  should  awaken  and  insist  upon 
our  rightful  place  in  the  constructive  forces  of  our 
day.     Shall  we  abandon  the  splendid  forward  vision 


The  New  Heaven  and  the  New  Earth       285 

of  the  Christians  of  all  the  ages  ?  Shall  we  exhaust 
our  powers  in  trying  to  reinstate  an  impossible  past 
instead  of  gladly  following  the  leading  of  Providence 
into  this  new  and  larger  world  ?  God  has  brought  to 
us  the  new  heavens  and  the  new  earth.  Do  we  care 
enough  about  righteousness  to  enter  into  the  inherit- 
ance and  claim  it  in  the  name  of  God  ? 

There  is  one  significant  difference  between  the 
world  in  which  we  live  and  that  in  which  the  apoca- 
lyptic visions  were  bom.  Then  there  was  no  such 
a  thing  as  local  government.  From  the  great  far- 
away imperial  throne  emanated  the  authority  to 
control  political  and  social  conditions.  And  this 
imperial  power  was  pagan,  caring  nothing  for  the 
dearest  ideals  of  Jew  or  Christian.  What  wonder 
that  men  invoked  the  intervention  of  God  to  set 
them  free  from  foreign  dominion?  But  today  we 
live  in  an  age  when  we  have  the  right  to  make 
our  own  government  what  we  choose.  No  Roman 
Caesar  dominates  our  political  life.  Our  national 
constitution  begins  with  the  simple  but  eloquent 
announcement  of  the  fact  that  ''we,  the  people,''  are 
enacting  the  form  of  government  under  which  we 
shall  live.  If  we  do  not  have  a  kingdom  of  righteous- 
ness it  is  our  own  fault.  We  actually  get  as  good  a 
government  as  we  really  deserve.  If  corruption 
and  inefficiency  persist,  if  vice  stalks  the  streets  of 
our  city,  if  oppression  and  injustice  walk  unrebuked 
in  industrial  life,  it  is  simply  because  we  are  not 
willing  to  pay  the  price  for  the  removal  of  these  ills. 


286  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

If  we  Christians  are  content  to  live  surrounded  by  the 
tokens  of  unrighteousness  when  we  have  the  power 
to  remove  them,  is  there  any  use  in  praying  for  a 
celestial  kingdom  ?  In  the  democratic  opportunity 
to  create  a  new  righteousness,  God  has  given  to  us 
the  fulfilment  of  the  dream  of  those  early  Chris- 
tians who  longed  for  a  social  order  in  which  they 
might  exercise  the  full  rights  of  citizenship.  But 
the  glory  of  the  dream  will  fade  if  we  are  content 
with  any  lesser  ideals  than  those  which  inspired  the 
early  faith. 

If,  then,  we  are  worthy  followers  of  the  early 
Christians,  if  we  are  to  deserve  fellowship  in  that 
goodly  company,  we,  like  them,  must  ardently  desire 
the  rule  of  God  in  our  social  life.  We  must  devote 
to  the  study  of  the  new  earth  which  we  possess 
as  much  earnestness  as  they  did  to  the  study  of 
the  unseen  kingdom  which  they  expected  would 
be  revealed  from  heaven.  We  must  seek  in  our 
business,  our  family  life,  our  social  enterprises  the 
rulership  of  God,  even  as  they  dreamed  of  a  world 
in  which  God  should  be  supreme. 

Here,  too,  we  find  a  prophetic  word  spoken  by 
Jesus  to  the  disciples  when  they  approached  him 
with  the  request  to  make  them  supreme  in  the 
coming  order.  The  great  ones  in  the  kingdom  are 
not  to  lord  it  over  others,  but  are  to  minister  to  the 
needy.  Even  the  great  cosmic  catastrophe  could 
not  usher  in  the  kingdom  if  that  note  of  ministry 
were  wanting.     The  king  himself  came  not  to  be 


The  New  Heaven  and  the  New  Earth       287 

ministered  unto,  but  to  minister  and  to  give  his  life 
a  ransom  for  many.  From  the  transformed  spirits 
of  the  citizens  shall  come  the  transformation  of  the 
kingdom.  Through  the  men  who  have  in  their 
hearts  the  love  of  God  is  to  come  the  ideal  of  loyalty 
to  God  in  all  the  details  of  life. 

The  kingdom  today  is  coming  largely  without 
observation.  Through  the  quiet  efforts  of  those 
who  have  the  spirit  of  ministry  the  new  righteousness 
is  appearing.  Instances  of  this  are  all  about  us. 
When,  a  few  years  ago.  Judge  Lindsay  in  Denver 
conceived  his  duty  to  be,  not  to  defend  the  majesty 
of  abstract  law,  but  to  minister  through  his  adminis- 
tration of  the  law  to  the  needs  of  wayward  boys, 
he  put  into  effect  the  fundamental  law  of  the  king- 
dom. A  few  months  ago  I  was  talking  with  the 
judge  in  his  chambers  in  Denver,  when  a  boy  came 
in  to  get  his  sentence  to  the  Reform  School.  Out 
of  the  court  he  went  with  no  policeman  or  guard, 
with  simple  instructions  how  to  take  the  train  for 
the  school.  Into  the  boy^s  heart  had  been  instilled 
the  idea  of  a  "square  deal."  The  righteousness  was 
located  within  his  purpose  instead  of  in  the  strong 
arm  of  a  policeman.  Boys  go  from  that  court- 
house to  the  educational  influences  of  the  Reform 
School  carrying  with  them  something  of  the  spirit 
of  honor  which  is  indispensable  in  the  new  earth 
wherein  is  to  dwell  righteousness.  Through  the 
spirit  of  ministry  this  transformation  has  been 
accomplished. 


288  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

And  what  is  true  of  the  boys  is  no  less  true  of 
men  who  have  gone  wrong.  It  has  taken  the  world 
a  long  time  to  learn  that  brute  force  can  never  create 
righteousness.  Barred  windows  in  a  jail  and  idle 
hours  devoted  to  desperate  meditations  will  never 
sweeten  the  bitter  spirits  of  men.  The  world  of 
crime  will  be  transformed  into  a  world  of  righteous- 
ness only  as  the  spirit  of  ministry  shall  rule  in  our 
courts  and  houses  of  detention  and  correction. 
Some  of  us  will  live  to  see  the  day  when  the  nation 
which  preserves  a  "jail'^  will  be  frankly  judged 
defective  in  its  discernment  of  righteousness.  In- 
stead of  the  older  ideal  of  degrading  punishment 
there  is  rapidly  growing  the  conviction  that  there  is 
no  more  pressing  duty  than  to  put  those  who  have 
sinned  in  the  care  of  men  and  women  in  whom  the 
spirit  of  ministry  is  all-compelling. 

More  than  this.  We  are  going  to  insist  that 
the  very  industries  which  are  the  glory  of  our  land 
shall  be  transformed  by  instilling  into  them  the 
spirit  of  ministry.  One  of  our  great  railroads 
recently  advertised  the  advantages  of  one  of  its  fast 
trains  from  Chicago  to  New  York  with  the  striking 
invitation,  "  Be  a  guest  on  the  Pennsylvania  Special.'' 
Who  could  resist  that  lure  ?  To  have  all  the  intelli- 
gence and  skill  which  goes  into  the  making  and 
management  of  so  magnificent  a  means  of  trans- 
portation put  at  the  service  of  the  "guests'' — is  that 
not  the  very  essence  of  ministry?  Suppose  the 
spirit  of  that  advertisement  were  to  be  adopted  by 


The  New  Heaven  and  the  New  Earth       289 

every  Christian  business  man.  Suppose  that  the 
thousands  of  such  men  who  are  in  the  offices  in  our 
great  cities  were  to  say  to  everyone  who  crossed  the 
threshold,  '^Be  my  guest  in  the  transaction  of  this 
business/'  Would  not  the  sky-scrapers  then  be 
the  cathedrals  of  the  kingdom  ?  We  all  know  the 
spirit  of  helpfulness  which  confides  to  a  friend  the 
truth  concerning  some  contemplated  investment. 
Will  not  the  genuine  Christian  man  tell  the  truth 
to  all  clients  ?  If  this  were  done,  how  quickly  would 
those  evils  disappear  against  which  the  prophet 
Amos  thundered!  The  factory-owner  watches  over 
a  son  or  a  friend  in  the  works  in  the  spirit  of  help- 
fulness. If  conditions  were  such  that  iU-health  or 
maiming  in  his  case  were  probable,  how  quickly 
would  safeguards  be  provided!  The  spirit  of 
ministry  would  not  endure  the  presence  of  such 
wrongs.  Christians  believe  that  the  time  is  speedily 
coming  when  men  wiU  see  the  splendid  opportunity 
here  for  ministry  to  the  thousands  in  their  employ. 
Or  again,  the  spirit  of  ministry  leads  a  father 
to  provide  wholesome  amusements  for  his  boys  and 
girls.  But  in  our  great  cities  what  poisons  grow 
unsuspected  among  the  flowers  of  amusement 
provided  by  those  who  have  no  sense  of  the  privilege 
of  ministry!  Why  should  we  leave  the  entertain- 
ment of  our  youth  to  be  provided  by  those  who  think 
only  of  financial  return,  and  who  never  count  the 
cost  of  ruined  lives?  The  spirit  of  ministry  is 
already    at    work    in   providing   playgrounds   and 


290  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

small  parks  for  the  physical  and  moral  salvation  of 
our  youth.  But  how  pitifully  small  are  the  move- 
ments of  righteousness  compared  with  the  mighty 
hosts  of  evil!  Surely  some  of  us  will  live  to  see  the 
new  earth  wherein  dwelleth  righteousness  among 
the  growing  boys  and  girls  in  their  hours  of  play. 
Such  are  some  of  the  ways  in  which  modern 
faith  looks  to  the  future.  The  form  of  the  early 
millennial  hope  has  passed  away.  But  the  hope 
itself  can  never  die  so  long  as  Christianity  remains 
alive.  For  the  past  century  or  so  men  have  been 
puzzled  because  they  have  seen  the  old  forms 
vanishing,  and  they  have  not  seen  what  is  to  take 
the  place  of  the  old.  But  the  day  of  perplexity  is 
passing.  We  are  now  seeing  how  the  new  heavens 
and  the  new  earth  are  to  come.  We  can  now 
praise  God  for  the  vision  which  he  has  granted  to  us 
of  the  coming  kingdom  where  the  spirit  of  ministry 
in  the  name  of  Christ  shall  transform  the  old  earth 
with  its  war  and  injustice  and  class-hatred  and 
selfish  luxury  and  narrow  greed  into  the  new  earth 
in  which  shall  dwell  the  righteousness  of  God.  Far 
more  precious  are  treasures  which  we  are  allowed  to 
discover  than  those  which  are  provided  without  our 
co-operation.  Far  better  will  be  the  kingdom  of 
righteousness  in  the  making  of  which  we  may  have 
a  share  than  would  be  a  heavenly  Jerusalem  let 
down  from  the  skies.  The  ancient  vision  is  changed 
inform;  but  its  content  is  no  less  precious.  In  the 
strength  of  this  confident  faith  in  the  future  king- 


The  New  Heaven  and  the  New  Earth       291 

dom,  Christians  can  endure  patiently,  knowing 
that  the  Lord  is  not  slack  concerning  his  promise, 
but  that  out  of  the  activities  of  his  Spirit  in  the 
hearts  of  men  will  be  created  the  new  earth  in  which 
dwelleth  righteousness. 


PRAYER 

O  thou  great  Ruler  of  the  destinies  of  men:  Estab- 
lish our  hearts  in  the  confidence  which  thou  dost 
grant  to  those  who  believe  that  thy  kingdom  shall  come. 
We  thank  thee  for  the  splendid  vision  of  thy  servants  of 
old,  who  amid  injustice  and  oppression  steadfastly  pro- 
claimed the  gospel  of  divine  deliverance ,  and  who  through 
their  courage  and  devotion  kept  men  from  faltering  in 
the  paths  of  righteousness.  We  praise  thee  for  the  holy 
ambition  of  those  who  have  sought  to  make  the  king- 
doms of  the  world  the  kingdom  of  our  Lord.  Thou 
hast  called  us  into  a  noble  inheritance  of  heroic  faith. 
Through  the  words  and  deeds  of  the  prophets  and  minis- 
ters of  thy  better  future  thou  hast  lifted  our  aspirations 
and  hast  bidden  us  expect  large  things  from  thee. 
Grant,  we  beseech  thee,  that  we  may  not  be  disobedient 
to  the  heavenly  vision.  As  thou  hast  put  into  our  hands 
the  power  which  comes  from  knowledge  and  from  wealth, 
wilt  thou  put  it  into  our  hearts  to  find  our  place  among 
those  whom  thy  Spirit  has  led  to  leave  the  profit  of  the 
present  for  the  sake  of  the  treasures  of  thy  kingdom. 
Make  us  to  rejoice  in  the  opportunities  which  thou  hast 
set  before  this  generation  to  engage  in  ministry  in  the 


292  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

name  of  Christ.  Keep  us  from  the  carelessness  or  the 
greed  which  thou  must  condemn.  Open  our  eyes  to  the 
glory  of  service  in  communion  with  him  who  has  re- 
deemed us  from  the  evil  life.  In  the  innocent  joy  of 
little  children,  in  the  pure  aspirations  of  young  men  and 
women  J  in  the  love  and  devotion  of  parents,  in  the  honor 
and  integrity  of  those  in  public  position,  in  the  yearn- 
ing for  larger  ministry  in  the  hearts  of  men  of  affairs, 
in  the  patient  toil  and  boundless  sympathy  of  those  who 
are  cleansing  the  dark  places  of  human  life,  in  the 
insistent  hope  which  lures  us  toward  thy  better  future, 
may  we  see  the  evidences  of  thy  Spirit,  and  may  we 
yield  our  lives  to  thy  call.  So  may  we  daily  pray  that 
thy  kingdom  may  come  and  thy  will  be  done  in  earth, 
as  in  heaven.    Amen. 


XVI 

THE  DIGNITY  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN 
MESSAGE 

BY 

FRED  MERRIFIELD 


THE  DIGNITY  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN 
MESSAGE 

Hast  thou  not  known?  hast  thou  not  heard?  The 
everlasting  God  ....  giveth  power  (Isa.  40:28,29). 

He  hath  anointed  me  to  preach  good  tidings  (Luke  4: 18). 

When  a  man  has  found  God  in  the  hitherto 
unknown  depths  of  his  own  life,  there  usually  comes 
with  this  startling  experience  a  double  revelation: 
first,  of  the  appalling  moral  needs  of  himself  and 
of  his  brother-men;  and,  secondly,  of  the  tremen- 
dous power  of  God  to  transform  human  weakness 
into  increasing  nobility  of  character.  From  the  keen 
appreciation  of  these  two  supreme  facts  issues  a  vital 
message  which  no  man  may,  with  impunity,  forget 
or  neglect.  And  there  is  no  joy,  in  this  life  or  in 
the  greater  life  beyond,  equal  to  that  which  comes 
to  one  who  dedicates  his  full  powers  to  the  procla- 
mation of  this  divine  message. 

The  great,  unknown  author  of  the  fortieth  chap- 
ter of  Isaiah  has  evidently  passed  through  some 
such  experience.  Everything,  seemingly,  that  was 
dear  to  the  people  of  Israel  had  been  torn  from  their 
lives — sacred  temple,  holy  city,  and  beloved  country; 
even  God  was  gone,  never  to  return!  But  in  that 
crucial  hour — the  hour  when,  most  of  all,  men  fight 
for  the  realities  of  faith — God  spoke  quietly  from 
within  the  heart  of  at  least  one  desperate  exile. 
He  arose  in  the  strength  of  his  new  conviction  and 

295 


296  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

fired  the  souls  of  his  fellow-exiles,  crying  out  with 
his  whole  might,  "Behold,  your  God!''  Here  was 
a  veritable  resurrection.  God  had  given  power  to  the 
faint.     Could  anything  henceforth  be  impossible  ? 

Many  years  afterward  a  quiet  youth  of  Nazareth 
had  almost  this  identical  experience.  He  had 
meditated  from  his  earliest  years  upon  the  vic- 
tories and  the  tragedies  of  his  people.  Shame  and 
sorrow,  longing  and  passion,  had  alternately  swept 
over  his  devoted  spirit;  for  he  loved  his  Jewish 
people  with  an  intensity  like  God's  own  changeless 
love.  Then,  one  momentous  day,  all  the  influences 
which  had  thus  far  molded  his  life  brought  him 
face  to  face  with  a  supreme  decision.  He  knew 
God  was  opening  the  gates  of  new  life  to  him — 
but  at  how  great  cost!  Dared  he  enter?  All  the 
natural  timidity  of  his  nature  and  all  the  peace 
of  the  carpenter's  career  bade  him  say  no.  But  his 
stern  sense  of  duty,  his  love  of  struggle,  and  his 
brotherly  interest  in  men  drove  him  finally  to  com- 
plete acceptance  of  the  divine  will.  His  message, 
therefore,  was  one  of  mingled  joy  and  sadness:  joy, 
because  he  was  to  help  God  win  back  human  lives; 
sadness,  because  he  must  phrase  his  message  in 
ways  which  might  be  misunderstood  or  even  quite 
displeasing  to  the  synagogue  leaders  of  the  time. 

I  like  to  think,  however,  that  Jesus  was  a  man 
of  joy  more  than  a  man  of  sorrows.  Even  in  those 
extreme  moments  of  weariness  and  danger,  when 
the  shadow  of  an  awful  fate  pressed  upon  his  soul, 


The  Dignity  of  the  Christian  Message      297 

he  invariably  fought  his  way  back  to  the  calm  of  a 
great  victory.  His  message  became  increasingly 
urgent,  and  he  spoke  with  ever-deeper  appreciation 
of  truth  as  dangers  multiplied  around  him.  The 
marks  of  God  were  upon  his  pure  face.  Like  the 
prophets  before  him,  he  spoke  with  burning  earnest- 
ness and  with  a  dignity  which  compelled  even  his 
enemies  to  listen,  awe-struck. 

What  shall  we  say  of  the  bearers  of  God's  message 
in  our  own  day — this  first  generation  of  the  boasted 
twentieth  century?  As  far  as  Christian  workers 
are  concerned,  are  they  close  to  human  need  and 
afire  with  the  sense  of  God  and  his  transforming 
power  ?  And  yet  our  message  has  grown  more  and 
more  meaningful  with  the  ripening  of  the  ages.  In 
this  most  strenuous  period,  with  its  exceedingly 
varied  and  complex  types  of  life,  when  the  tests  of 
character  seem  fiercer  and  so  very  pitiless,  are  we 
guarding  the  sources  of  our  human  compassion? 
Are  we  more  than  ever  sure  that  God  cares  for  our 
highest  welfare?  There  never  was  an  age  when 
men  were  capable  of  so  much  development,  when 
they  so  needed  power  for  endless  achievements. 
Sometimes  we  fairly  gasp  at  the  thought  of  the 
infinite  possibiHties  which  time  and  eternity  may 
reveal  in  the  realm  of  human  character!  Are  we, 
like  the  Master  Jesus,  able  to  stand  out  before  the 
whole  world  and  say  out  of  a  living  experience, 
"Here  is  the  message  which  fits  the  need  of  every 
life.     Good  tidings:  behold,  your  God'' ?    Do  men 


298  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

respect  the  dignity  of  our  mission  and  heed  our 
message  with  eagerness  today  ? 

God  knows  there  are  many  noble  and  efficient 
Christian  workers  in  our  modern  world.  The  Spirit 
of  Jesus  is  beautifully  exemplified  in  them — the 
spirit  of  love  and  good  cheer,  and  insistent  progress. 
And  yet  we  Christians  are  facing  a  tremendous 
crisis,  as  every  thoughtful  person  knows  all  too  well. 
As  far  as  our  leading  organization  is  concerned — 
I  refer  to  the  church,  which  is  supposed  to  be  the 
embodiment  of  all  that  is  noble  in  our  faith — we 
stand  in  the  presence  of  a  strangely  embarrassing 
situation.  In  spite  of  all  our  claims  as  to  the  posses- 
sion of  authority,  truth,  and  power,  we  seem  in 
general  to  be  losing  our  hold  upon  the  communities 
which  we  mean  to  lead  in  ways  of  righteousness. 
Leave  out  of  consideration  the  many  unintelligent 
people  who  unfairly  judge  the  views  and  activities 
of  the  church.  Yet  we  are  compelled  to  face  the 
fact  that  thousands  of  honest  and  upright  people 
are,  to  put  it  mildly,  disappointed  in  the  church. 
They  think  we  represent  a  travesty  upon  religion; 
we  are  not  practical  in  our  conduct  of  church 
interests;  we  have  lost  ourselves  in  the  monotonous 
round  of  ceremonial;  our  worship  is  too  often  per- 
functory, and  ineffective  with  both  God  and  men. 
Many  feel  that,  thanks  to  our  petty  interpretations, 
God  is  lost  again,  prayer  is  impossible,  and  there  is 
no  reliable  guide  to  life.  Shall  we  loftily  rebuke 
these  ''enemies  of  the  church"  for  their  rejection 


The  Dignity  of  the  Christian  Message       299 

of  our  long-standing  claims;  or  shall  we  preserve 
our  dignity  in  a  nobler  and  more  manly  way  by 
asking  fearlessly  for  all  the  facts  in  the  case,  with 
a  vow  to  act  only  and  altogether  as  God,  through 
experience,  shall  give  us  light?  As  surely  as  we 
continue  to  plod  blindly  on,  regardless  of  the  criti- 
cisms called  forth  by  our  pretentious  attitude,  the 
church  is  doomed  to  oblivion  in  the  graveyard  of 
"dead  religions"  whose  number  no  man  can  count. 
No  warning  could  be  stronger,  if  we  have  eyes  to 
see  the  judgments  of  history! 

The  salvation  of  Christianity — not  to  speak  of 
the  church — in  the  even  more  strenuous  years  to 
come,  lies  in  the  frank  and  fearless  acceptance  of 
that  great  principle  stated  in  the  Fourth  Gospel, 
'^  Ye  shall  know  the  truth,  and  the  truth  shall  make 
you  free."  By  standing  boldly  out  before  the  world, 
asking  no  favors  at  the  hands  of  any  man;  but 
always  resting  our  convictions  upon  the  tests  of 
experience,  and  then  throwing  our  whole  selves  into 
the  presentation  of  the  truth  thus  gained,  we  can 
win  back  the  masses  of  protesting  people  who  now 
find  no  comfort  or  help  in  our  midst.  Great  num- 
bers of  them  are  really  hungry  for  the  message  we 
may  make  clear  through  our  lives.  Let  me  suggest 
a  few  ways  in  which  we  may  work  out  this  more 
effective  message  and  lay  it,  with  convincing  power, 
before  our  fellow-men. 

First  of  all,  we  may  exhibit  more  honesty  in 
facing  facts  in  religion.     Nothing  in  the  world  so 


300  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

appeals  to  real  men  and  women  of  all  nationalities 
as  downright  fairness  in  the  formation  of  our  judg- 
ments. And  nowhere  should  there  be  more  insist- 
ence upon  absolute  open-mindedness  and  honesty 
than  in  the  consideration  of  religious  matters.  It 
is  the  height  of  folly,  and  a  sad  comment  upon  the 
worth  of  one's  convictions,  for  a  Christian  to  refuse 
to  entertain  evidence  from  any  reasonable  source. 
Why  should  we,  for  instance,  take  refuge  in  theories 
of  inspiration  which  will  not  for  a  moment  stand 
in  the  light  of  facts  so  well  known  today?  Why 
insist  that  because  God  is  all-powerful,  therefore 
he  must  have  done  all  the  marvels  which  men  so 
reverently,  but  in  ignorance,  have  attributed  to  him  ? 
Even  a  fair  amount  of  study  on  the  part  of  the 
average  individual,  not  to  say  more  of  our  ministers, 
would  lead  to  saner  views  as  to  the  origin  of  the 
Bible  and  the  historicity  of  the  wonder-stories  therein 
recorded.  Why  then  do  we  Christians — ^parents, 
Bible  teachers,  and  preachers  alike — not  take  the 
trouble  to  know  the  truth  as  it  may  be  known? 
We  may  be  absolutely  certain  of  one  thing:  the 
gold  of  God's  truth  cannot  but  come  to  us  in  purer 
form  if  it  first  pass  through  the  searching  fires  of 
an  honest  and  reverent  criticism. 

God  puts  no  premium  upon  ignorance  or  fond 
credulity.  We  do  not  honor  him  when  we  base  our 
conclusions  upon  theories  whose  origin  we  have 
never  sought  out.  A  message  of  such  power  and 
dignity  as  ours  calls  for  testing,  for  ceaseless  inves- 


The  Dignity  of  the  Christian  Message      301 

tigation.  After  all,  Christianity  is  no  set  creed 
formulated  by  Jesus  or  by  his  disciples.  Chris- 
tianity is  a  life,  to  be  lived  in  the  free  and  growing 
spirit  of  Jesus.  Life  must  change  to  be  healthy. 
And  so  our  message  must  ever  take  on  new  forms, 
adapting  itself  to  new  situations,  being  sifted  of  all 
possible  error,  kept  pure  and  vital  that  it  may 
continue  to  transform  men  and  women  into  the 
likeness  of  the  heavenly  Father.  It  is  astonishing 
and  inspiring  to  see  how,  under  such  severe  scrutiny, 
the  fundamental  views  of  Jesus  take  on  large  sig- 
nificance. We  gain,  by  such  honest  research, 
a  new  and  livelier  faith  in  him  and  his  power  to 
interpret  man  and  God.  The  secret  of  Jesus' 
power  with  God  and  men  lies  chiefly  in  the  fact 
that  he  made  sincerity  the  keynote  of  his  life.  If 
he,  whom  we  delight  to  call  our  Leader,  fought  his 
way  insistently  toward  truth,  shall  we  allow  the 
dogmatic  assertions  of  very  inferior  characters, 
however  ancient  and  popular,  to  limit  our  freedom 
of  thought?  The  creed  that  will  not  grow  must 
cease  to  represent  truth.  The  church  will  con- 
tinue to  lose  power  with  men  just  so  long  as  it  clings 
feverishly  to  the  outworn  statements  of  life- 
experience.  We  shall  surely  dignify  our  message 
when  we  dare  to  test  it  in  the  increasing  light  of 
modern  thought.  When  the  church  gets,  once 
again,  the  open-mindedness  of  its  Master,  the 
world  will  hear  the  message  for  which  it  most 
certainly    is    hungry.      If    we    Christians    do    our 


302  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

part  to  make  religion  reasonable,  vital,  and  prac- 
tical, there  is  no  normal  man  or  woman  living  who 
can  fail  to  respect  and  be  helped  by  our  hearty 
convictions. 

Again,  we  must  have  larger  faith  in  humanity. 
There  has  been  so  much  unnecessary  and  undig- 
nified quibbling  in  Christian  circles,  in  years  past, 
over  the  question  of  "lost  souls.''  At  times,  in 
our  semi-omniscience  we  have  almost  dared  to 
"bind''  the  eternal  destinies  of  others  both  upon 
earth  and  in  heaven,  delivering  men  over  to  the 
inevitable  fate  of  the  damned  when,  behold,  God 
was  not  yet  through  with  his  appeals  to  these  lives 
at  all!  In  our  haste,  we  have  too  often  hesitated, 
or  refused,  to  believe  that  there  was  hope  for  this 
hardened  man  or  for  that  forsaken  woman.  We 
would  better  remember  our  Master's  kindly  advice, 
"Judge  not!"  Are  we  not  learning  how  patient 
and  hopeful  the  Infinite  is?  Has  he  not  besieged 
human  beings  long  before  we  have  awakened  to 
their  need?  Does  he  not  stay  by  long  after  we 
have  given  up  hope,  believing  in  the  possible  redemp- 
tion of  men  and  women  who  seemingly  have  no 
power  of  response  left  in  them?  Why  have  we 
thought  God  hasty,  like  a  petty  sovereign,  to  avenge 
his  claims?  Why  should  he,  more  quickly  than 
the  best  of  us,  give  up  the  fight  for  lives  that  have 
eternal  powers  wrapped  up  within  them  ? 

It  were  far  better  to  err  on  the  other  side,  if 
error  there  be  in  a  love  that  will  not  die.     It  is 


The  Dignity  of  the  Christian  Message      303 

certainly  human  so  to  love,  for  we  cannot  give  up 
those  we  love,  in  time  or  in  eternity.  Why  should 
God?  If  we,  with  great  tactfulness,  present  our 
message  straight  to  the  better  natures  of  men,  we 
shall  certainly  win  many  more  of  them  than  we 
do  now.  If  we  let  them  know  we  cannot  give  them 
up  to  their  passions  or  their  prejudices  they  will 
begin  to  have  faith  in  themselves;  and  that  is  the 
beginning  of  faith  in  God.  There  never  in  history 
has  been  a  day  when  men  more  needed  God  and 
his  hosts  of  devoted  co-workers  to  believe  in  them. 
The  tests  of  life  seem  to  grow  more  and  more  severe 
as  time  wears  on.  Thousands  of  suicides  might  be 
prevented  if  those  unfortunates  knew  somebody 
cared  and  still  believed  in  them.  Thousands  of 
unhappy  people  hate  the  church  today  because 
it  has  too  often  taught  of  a  "narrow  way''  to  life 
and  God  that  meant,  not  moral  earnestness  and 
the  jealousy  of  holy  love,  but  the  pettiness  of 
an  artificial  scheme  of  salvation,  an  aristocratic 
heaven,  and  an  eternity  of  smug  selfishness.  As 
surely  as  God  reverses  fates,  the  last  shall  be 
first;  the  haters  will  "enter  the  Kingdom''  before 
the  superior  and  tardy  saints!  Let  us  take 
warning. 

We  read  Harold  Begbie's  Twice-horn  Men; 
then,  plucking  up  our  courage,  we  undertake  our 
fitful  tasks  of  saving  men  from  extreme  moral 
dangers.  But  how  blind  are  we  to  the  signs  of  all 
the  ages!    If  this  old  universe  holds  a  God  at  all, 


304  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

he  too  must  be  struggling,  and  that  without  ceasing, 
for  the  Hves  of  his  people. 

How  can  I  give  thee  up,  O  Ephraim ! 
For  God  am  I,  and  not  man! 

We  have  been  so  bound  by  the  age-long  tradi- 
tions of  men  we  have  not  had  eyes  to  see  that  God 
is  in  the  midst  of  battle,  his  face  all  aglow  with  cour- 
age and  certain  victory!  Why  cannot  we  take  the 
call  of  our  own  best  human  love  as  his  call,  let  other 
men's  theologies  be  what  they  must?  Multitudes 
of  our  choicest  young  men  and  women  are  actually 
losing  faith  in  themselves  and  their  power  to  be 
religious  because  we  Christians  have  coldly  con- 
demned them  for  not  coming  to  God  in  our  accus- 
tomed ways.  These  many  tempted  people,  with 
all  they  mean  for  influence  in  coming  years,  we  may 
save — ^by  faith  in  them.  We  are  never  in  danger 
of  outrunning  the  faith  of  the  tireless  God! 

Another  element  in  the  effectiveness  of  our 
message  must  be  our  presentation  of  the  tremen- 
dous reality  and  nearness  of  God.  Christians  of 
the  twentieth  century,  if  they  have  at  all  caught 
the  spirit  of  their  Master,  center  their  message  in  the 
love  and  power  of  God.  Nothing  must  be  allowed 
to  obscure  the  fact  of  an  ever-present  God  working 
in  love  to  bring  about  the  perfection  of  life  among 
his  children  of  earth.  Jesus  set  his  whole  life  to 
the  supreme  task  of  knowing  God  and  making  him 
known.     Through  years  of  determined  search  for 


The  Dignity  of  the  Christian  Message      305 

the  divine  will,  he  came  to  the  place  where  he  could 
say  to  his  people  with  convincing  assurance:  "God 
Hves,  and  God  cares  for  every  human  need/'  Multi- 
tudes of  people  have  no  use  for  Christianity  today 
because  so  comparatively  few  of  us  have  cultivated 
the  sense  and  conviction  of  God.  I  say  cultivated, 
because  the  religious  sense  has  to  be  nurtured  just 
as  truly  as  does  the  taste  for  art  or  for  science.  It 
would  mean  nothing  to  us  if  God  were  to  force 
himself  upon  our  attention.  We  have  to  achieve 
this  greatest  of  all  the  discoveries  of  Hfe  for  our- 
selves before  we  can  appreciate  it  adequately. 

Can  a  man,  then,  really  know  that  God  lives 
and  cares?  Our  reason  and  our  deepest  emotions 
certainly  point  strongly  in  this  direction.  The  full 
and  final  assurance  of  these  tremendous  facts  is 
won  by  the  open  tests  of  earnest  living.  We  have 
been  weak  in  our  presentation  of  this  greatest  of  all 
subjects.  We  have  been  insisting  that  people  must 
believe  in  God  because  of  the  experiences  of  others 
— the  Bible  writers  and  Jesus,  especially.  Their 
experiences  are,  to  be  sure,  extremely  inspiring, 
reassuring.  But  no  man  can  live  for  another.  We 
have  failed  to  court  the  investigation  of  the  whole 
universe  of  facts  and  experiences  lying  more  closely 
at  hand.  We  have  expected  the  emotions  to  be 
aroused  by  suggestion  and  inspiration  from  with- 
out; whereas  truth  can  dawn  completely  upon  a 
man  only  when  he  himself  has  plunged  into  the 
quest  for  God  and  has,  for  himself  and  in  himself, 


3o6  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

primarily,  come  to  know  God  as  real  and  tremen- 
dously interested  in  every  man's  life.  We  shall 
dignify  our  message  a  thousand  fold  if  we  can  make 
men  feel  that  God  can  be  revealed  to  them  only 
when  he  is  sought  after  with  the  entire,  prepared 
life  of  the  seeker.  When  we  teach  men  that  they 
must  think  their  way  Godward,  that  they  must  live 
their  way  into  the  sacred  consciousness  of  the 
Infinite  Father,  and  that  then,  and  then  only,  will 
they  most  fully  feel  him  in  the  depths  of  their  inner 
being,  we  shall  succeed  in  making  the  quest  worthy 
and  provocative  of  the  most  heroic  and  reverent 
efforts  of  which  humanity  is  capable.  Such  per- 
sistent, intelligent  search  cannot  but  find  a  heart  of 
love  throbbing  within  the  universe. 

Ye  shall  seek  me,  and  find  me, 

When  ye  shall  search  for  me  with  all  your  heart. 

The  dignifying  of  the  Christian  message  waits 
also  for  more  adequate,  active  expression  of  our 
deepening  life.  Too  often  have  we  professing 
followers  of  Jesus  contented  ourselves  with  the 
punctilious  observance  of  ceremonies  whose  origin 
and  significance  we  really  have  never  investigated. 
All  too  often  have  we  regarded  firm  adherence  to 
traditional  doctrines  as  the  essence  of  Christianity. 
But  Jesus'  spirit  of  insistent  protest  against  lifeless 
formality  and  static  doctrines  is  again  at  work  in 
these  days.  The  old  wine-skins  of  custom  cannot 
stand  the  pressure  of  the  divine  life  which  seeks 
larger  expression;  and  where  men  and  organizations 


The  Dignity  of  the  Christian  Message      307 

are  not  wise  enough  to  provide  for  more  efficient, 
inspiring  methods  of  work,  the  power  of  a  nobler 
life  is  often  lost  altogether. 

Attendance  upon  services  of  worship  and 
preaching  may  at  times  have  been  the  proof  of 
thorough  piety.  Some  people  still  stand  aghast 
at  the  thought  that  younger  people  must  have  more 
activities  than  these  in  connection  with  the  church, 
or  else  find  them  in  outside  organizations.  Yet 
every  generation  brings  its  new  problems,  in  religion 
as  in  the  various  industries  and  in  education. 
How  we  laugh  at  the  rural  Japanese  carpenter 
who  persists,  even  today,  in  sawing  his  logs  by 
hand,  or  at  the  farmer  who  threshes  his  grain  with 
the  old-fashioned  flail!  Yet  nothing  in  the  world 
is  ridiculed  more  than  religion,  just  because  we 
cling  to  worn-out  methods  of  thought  and  useless 
and  inadequate  forms  of  service.  We  may  content 
ourselves  in  reply,  with  the  hurling  of  holy  anathe- 
mas at  the  heads  of  these  impious  folk,  but  they 
are  stating  a  fact  that  we  cannot  conceal  even  from 
rather  dim  eyes.  An  increasing  procession  of 
"unbelievers''  in  our  methods  and  doctrines  con- 
tinues to  pour  past,  and  even  out  from,  our  church 
doors  toward  larger  freedom  and  more  satisfying 
life.  We  cannot,  as  Christians,  avoid  our  clear 
responsibility.  If  our  message  is,  as  we  believe, 
fundamentally  adequate  for  all  men  at  all  times, 
we  must  and  can  win  those  estranged  classes  back 
to  the  life  which  God  has  meant  them  to  enjoy. 


3o8  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

Many  of  our  modern  churches  are  succeeding 
nobly  in  this  great  task,  and  numerous  organizations 
alUed  to  the  church  are  making  steady  progress 
toward  the  desired  end.  Quietly,  but  effectively, 
the  whole  organism  of  religious  life  and  thought 
is  being  transformed  to  meet  actual  modern  needs 
and  to  give  expression  to  the  new  visions  of  duty 
which  are  growing  out  of  the  pressing  moral,  eco- 
nomic, and  educational  problems  of  the  day.  If 
religion  can  stand  for  practical  work  and  enlight- 
ened methods  of  work,  in  keeping  with  all  other 
lines  of  advance,  men  will  again  respect  the  church 
and  hasten  to  volunteer  help  in  tasks  worthy  of  a 
man,  in  '^something  worth  while.'' 

Life  is  too  petty  without  God;  too  dull  without 
worship  of  all  that  is  good  and  holy.  The  restless 
hunger  for  God  is  a  part  of  our  deepest  human 
nature;  we  cannot  forget  it  always;  it  will  not  be 
displaced,  for  it  is  God's  own  voice  to  lead  us  home 
to  himself.  If  the  church,  then,  working  hopefully 
with  these  clear  facts  in  mind,  can  quicken  the  lives 
of  men  with  the  consciousness  of  constant  co- 
operation with  God — so  that  they  will  feel  that 
every  breath  they  draw  is  a  prayer  for  strength, 
and  every  act  a  sacrament — they  will  soon  come 
to  realize  the  power  of  an  endless  life,  from, 
which  nothing  henceforth  can  ever  tempt  them 
away. 

Creeds,  as  has  been  said,  have  their  place  in 
religion:    they  are  waymarks  pointing   to  victory 


The  Dignity  of  the  Christian  Message      309 

over  lower  ideals,  the  declaration  of  the  ever- 
restless  divine  spirit  of  man  for  larger  independence 
and  life.  Creeds  are,  whenever  they  are  honest  and 
open,  necessarily  iconoclastic;  they  must  shatter 
contemporaneous  idols,  and  they  must  likewise 
expect  to  be  broken  when  their  own  time  is  served. 
There  never  yet  has  been  a  creed  in  Christianity 
suited  to  all  men  of  all  times;  there  probably  never 
will  be  such  an  anomaly  unless  all  Christians  refuse 
to  grow.  The  spirit  of  Jesus  forbids  that;  it  must 
ever  expand  and  find  new  modes  of  expressing  its 
growing  powers.  A  Christian  who  cannot  grow  has 
surely  caught  little  of  the  Master's  spirit  of  progress. 
He,  himself,  had  to  break  away  from  the  useless 
forms  of  his  church;  he  could  not  afford  to  be 
bound  by  anything  that  did  not  represent  life  and 
advancement.  To  him  religion  meant  opening  the 
whole  emotional  self  to  the  play  of  human  need, 
and  divine  longing;  it  meant  thinking  one's  own 
way  forward  in  all  earnestness  and  sincerity,  scorn- 
ing sham  and  mastering  truth;  it  meant  also 
that  one's  will  must  be  set  forever  toward  God 
as  he  could  be  found  in  the  crying  distress  of 
humanity. 

If  Jesus  had  lived  forty  years  longer,  to  spend 
himself  in  a  still  greater  career  of  devoted  service, 
would  he  have  changed  at  all — seen  God  more 
truly,  had  even  more  faith  in  men,  grasped  new 
conceptions  of  truth  and  duty  ?  Without  a  doubt. 
Experience  such  as  he  was  having  always  brings 


3IO  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

these  results.  A  man  cannot  walk  consistently 
with  God  and  remain  always  the  same.  Every 
moment  of  such  exalting  fellowship  is  a  new  day, 
a  new  world,  full  of  eternal  meanings  hitherto 
unappreciated  because  of  natural  human  limitations. 

We  believe  with  all  our  heart  that  Jesus  struck 
the  notes  of  a  perfect  harmony  between  men  and 
God.  Nowhere  else  in  the  stretches  of  history  have 
the  hearts  of  men  and  God  been  so  laid  bare  as  in 
his  searching  teachings.  We  are  indebted  to  him 
supremely  for  our  convictions  of  the  love  and  care 
of  God  for  even  the  least  of  human  lives,  for  our 
enlarging  faith  in  our  brother-men,  for  even  such 
sense  of  divine  fellowship  as  we  do  possess,  and 
for  the  hopes  which  thrill  us  as  we  face  a  future, 
unknown,  and  yet  as  certain  and  inspiring  as  our 
certainty  of  God  himself  within  us. 

We  have  the  message  which  has  already  done 
wonders  for  multitudes  of  hungry  people  through 
many  trying  years.  It  is  this  very  day  trans- 
forming countless  others  in  all  parts  of  the  world. 
It  is  we  who  are  at  fault,  not  the  message  which  our 
noblest  workers  have  caught  from  the  omnipotent 
spirit  of  God.  If  we  Christians  will  grasp  our  mes- 
sage in  all  simplicity,  and  clearness,  and  allow  it  to 
master  us  with  its  divine  sense  of  power,  there  is  no 
man  anywhere  of  any  race  or  any  faith  who  will  not 
respect  us  and  in  some  degree  at  least  heed  the 
convictions  with  which  our  own  lives  shall  have 
been  so  charged. 


The  Dignity  of  the  Christian  Message      311 

PRAYER 

0  God,  our  Infinite  Father:  We  need  thy  patience 
and  thy  courage  to  believe  in  the  worth  of  men.  We 
need  thy  faith  in  the  power  of  love  and  truth  to  trans- 
form frail  and  erring  human  lives  into  thine  own  pure 
likeness.  Speak  thou  through  us  until  our  whole 
beings  give  perfect  response  to  thy  will.  Then  we 
shall  know  the  dignity  of  laboring  with  thee,  endlessly; 
we  shall  know  the  joy  of  proclaiming  the  message 
which  fits  every  man's  deepest  need.    Amen. 


XVII 
THE  WAY  TO  THE  UNSEEN 

BY 

THEODORE  GERALD  SOARES 


THE  WAY  TO  THE  UNSEEN 

He  that  loveth  not  his  brother  whom  he  hath  seen,  can- 
not love  God  whom  he  hath  not  seen  (I  John  4:20). 

Perhaps  it  is  just  because  one  has  seen  his 
brother  and  knows  him  only  too  well  that  he  con- 
siders him  unlovable,  while  he  hopes  that  God 
whom  he  has  not  seen  is  different  from  man  and 
therefore  may  be  lovable.  But  we  cannot  have 
God  without  man.  If  there  is  any  clear  Christian 
truth  it  is  the  dependence  of  religious  experience 
upon  human  sympathy.  The  Bible  uncompro- 
misingly insists  upon  this  condition:     "When  ye 

make  many  prayers,  I  will  not  hear Learn 

to  do  well;  seek  justice,  relieve  the  oppressed,  judge 
the  fatherless,  plead  for  the  widow'';  "Do  justice, 
love  kindness,  walk  humbly  with  thy  God";  "Live 
soberly,  righteously,  godly,  in  this  present  world"; 
"First  be  reconciled  to  thy  brother,  and  then  come 
and  offer  thy  gift";  "Inasmuch  as  ye  did  it  not  to 
one  of  these  least,  ye  did  it  not  to  me";  "If  a  man 
say,  I  love  God,  and  hateth  his  brother,  he  is  a  liar." 
The  noblest  souls  who  have  sought  fellowship  with 
God  have  never  been  able  to  find  it  apart  from  some 
sacrificial  service  to  men.  Said  the  gracious  mystic 
Tersteegan,  when  he  was  fain  to  leave  prayer  that 
he  might  minister  to  the  needy,  "I  wanted  to  be 
with  the  Father,  but  he  sent  me  to  be  with  the 

315 


3i6  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

children.''  If  there  is  one  common  ground  of  all 
schools  and  divisions  of  Christianity  today,  it  is  in 
the  agreement,  theoretical  at  least,  that  there  can 
be  no  religion  without  human  justice  and  human 
love.  We  cannot  have  God  without  man.  The 
Apostles'  Creed  would  be  but  worthless  lip  service 
without  the  Golden  Rule. 

But  a  more  serious  and  a  more  difficult  question 
is  to  the  fore :  May  we  have  a  human  religion  with- 
out God?  If  we  have  the  Golden  Rule,  do  we 
need  any  Apostles'  Creed  ?  May  not  philanthropy 
itself  be  a  religion  ?  Would  not  a  passion  for  social 
justice,  for  human  freedom  and  blessedness,  be 
a  religious  experience,  even  with  no  thought  of  God  ? 
If  we  love  men  whom  we  have  seen,  do  we  need  to 
love  God  whom  we  have  not  seen?  Many  people 
who  are  concerned  about  a  minimum  of  religion, 
anxious  to  find  a  common  denominator  for  all 
earnest-minded  men  and  women,  are  asking  these 
questions  with  great  insistence.  Like  Abou  ben 
Adhem,  they  would  be  written  down  as  those  who 
love  their  fellow-men,  and  would  prefer  to  stop 
there  with  what  may  be  seen.  Why  not  make  a 
creed  of  the  Golden  Rule  as  the  religious  minimum  ? 

Of  course  the  search  for  a  religious  minimum 
is  a  kind  of  paradox.  We  scarcely  want  to  know 
how  little  we  must  believe,  but  rather  how  much 
we  may  believe.  Yet  any  minimum  is  a  good 
beginning.  And  Jesus'  Golden  Rule  turned  into 
a  creed  would  be  a  glorious  beginning. 


The  Way  to  the  Unseen  317 

To  be  sure,  there  has  always  seemed  a  natural- 
ness to  the  religious  soul  in  the  first  article  of  faith 
affirming  the  supreme  confidence,  "I  believe  in  God 
the  Father  Almighty,  Maker  of  heaven  and  earth." 
But  there  is  no  inevitable  necessity  to  begin  with 
that  affirmation.  If  anyone  is  not  clear  about  it; 
if,  instead  of  expressing  a  glorious  confidence,  it 
raises  a  perplexing  problem,  then  were  it  better  to 
begin  with  the  certainty,  "I  believe  in  the  Golden 
Rule  of  Jesus."  Not  a  bad  first  article  for  any 
man's  faith,  if  he  really  means  it.  Perhaps  all  of 
us  would  subscribe  to  it  easily,  but  it  might  lead 
us  farther  than  we  have  thought.  It  means  a 
belief  that  each  of  us  ought  to  treat  everyone  every- 
where with  the  same  fairness  and  generosity  which 
we  wish  to  receive  for  ourselves.  Or,  as  it  may  be 
further  generalized  into  a  philosophy  of  life,  it  is 
a  behef  that  everybody  everywhere  ought  to  be 
treated  as  fairly  and  generously  as  we  wish  to  be 
ourselves.  Could  there  be  a  finer  standard  of 
justice  and  generosity  ?  Of  course  we  wish  nothing 
unreasonable  for  ourselves,  but  all  we  wish  for 
ourselves  in  reason  and  justice  we  would  be  ready 
to  claim  for  others.  Let  one  say  it  over  to  himself 
very  thoughtfully,  and  see  if  he  means  it:  ^'I 
beheve  that  babies  everywhere  should  be  as  well 
born  and  kindly  tended  as  I  would  have  my  own; 
that  motherhood  should  be  as  protected  as  I  would 
have  the  mother  that  is  dearest  to  me;  that  child- 
hood should  be  as  joyous  and  youth  as  free  to  come 


3i8  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

to  its  own  as  mine  should  be  if  I  could  have  my  wish; 
that  womanhood  should  be  guarded  everywhere  with 
the  chivalry  that  I  would  give  my  best;  that  every 
man's  labor  should  be  as  honored  and  as  fairly  esti- 
mated as  I  want  mine  to  be;  that  all  lives  should  be 
lightened  and  blessed  with  the  leisure  that  I  love 
for  myself;  that  the  higher  human  values  for  which 
I  crave  should  be  available  for  all  mankind;  that 
every  man's  future  should  be  cared  for  as  I  would 
have  my  own;  and  that  everyone  everywhere  should 
have  the  love  and  kindly  estimate  and  generous 
appreciation  that  I  desire  so  keenly  for  myself." 
He  who  can  make  such  an  affirmation  of  his  per- 
sonal faith,  not  as  a  pretty  sentiment,  but  as  an 
ultimate  conviction  of  righteousness,  expressing 
a  genuine  passion  for  human  welfare,  and  protest 
against  every  wrong  and  shame  and  harshness  and 
misery,  has  attained  an  attitude  which  is  not  far 
from  the  religious  experience.  If  he  can  write  as 
the  first  article  of  his  creed,  "I  believe  in  man,  and 
that  the  earth  with  its  beauty  and  bounty  should 
belong  to  the  men  that  live  in  it,"  then  he  has  made 
a  beginning  that  is  on  the  way  to  religion.  Loving 
men  whom  he  has  seen  is  an  element  of  the  religious 
experience,  even  though  as  yet  he  may  not  know 
God  whom  he  has  not  seen. 

For  no  man  can  stop  there.  He  will  have  to 
live  his  creed,  and  that  will  carry  him  farther 
toward  religion.  As  a  matter  of  fact  every  man 
does  live  his  creed,  not  perhaps  the  creed  he  pro- 


The  Way  to  the  Unseen  319 

fesses,  but  the  creed  he  really  holds.  Some  of  us 
might  be  surprised  if  we  saw  our  real  creeds — the 
philosophy  we  live  by — written  out  in  black  and 
white.  Are  we  just  talking  about  the  Golden  Rule 
or  do  we  really  believe  in  it?  Perhaps  there  is  no 
greater  moral  danger  among  us  than  that  of  a  cheap 
sentimentalism  over  humanity.  Like  Oliver  Gold- 
smith, we  cannot  help  giving  sixpence  to  the  beggar, 
or  better,  we  refer  him  to  the  Associated  Charities, 
but  also,  like  the  humane  poet,  we  would  walk  out 
of  our  way  to  avoid  seeing  the  beggar.  We  prefer 
to  talk  about  the  abolition  of  poverty.  The  cant 
of  evangelicalism,  expressing  religious  experiences 
that  are  unreal,  is  discredited  and  out  of  date. 
But  we  may  have  a  new  cant  of  philanthropy, 
expressing  social  ideals  that  are  mere  fads  and 
fancies  and  not  facts  of  life.  He  who  really  loves 
the  men  whom  he  has  seen  and  believes  in  Jesus' 
rule  will  have  the  experience  of  a  devotedness  to 
a  great  purpose.  Yes,  and  an  experience  of  sacri- 
ficial devotedness,  for  he  will  find  at  once  that  the 
love  of  mankind  is  a  costly  passion.  It  has  a 
thousand  ways  in  which  one  may  convert  his  money 
into  ministry.  It  takes  time  that  one  would  gladly 
devote  to  exercises  of  self-interest.  It  levies  upon 
one's  sympathies  until  he  feels  that  virtue  has  gone 
out  of  him.  It  will  not  stay  its  demands  when  one 
is  weary;  the  Capernaum  crowd  follows  the  min- 
istering Son  of  Man  even  to  the  grassy  slopes  of 
his  retreat.     He  who  has  indeed  a  love  for  human 


320  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

kind  will  feel  that  he  is  in  this  strange,  confused, 
and  troubled  world  to  do  his  part  to  make  it  better. 
It  is  an  engrossing  experience;  not  an  incidental 
effort,  not  a  passing  emotion,  but  an  appreciation 
of  the  personal  meaning  of  life.  So  Jesus  meant 
when  he  said,  ''The  Son  of  man  came  not  to  be 
ministered  unto,  but  to  minister,  and  to  give  his 
life  a  ransom  for  many.''  Here  was  the  unifying 
of  an  entire  life-purpose,  deliberately  directed,  not 
toward  getting  service  rendered  to  himself,  but 
toward  rendering  service  wherever  it  was  needed, 
devoting  one's  self,  not  to  the  reaHzation  of  per- 
sonal ambitions,  but  to  the  enfranchisement  of 
other  men's  restricted  lives.  He  who  has  such  an 
experience  finds  the  glory  of  giving  actually  tri- 
umphant over  the  greed  of  getting.  It  is  the 
achievement  of  an  attitude  exactly  the  opposite 
of  exploitation  in  every  human  relation.  One  still 
asks  in  every  circumstance,  ''Where  do  I  come  in  ?" 
but  he  would  come  in  with  the  uplifted  hand  of 
help,  not  with  the  grasping  hand  of  greed.  It 
colors  the  simplest  relations  of  our  lives  and  the 
most  complex.  It  is  the  organization  of  homes  on 
the  basis  of  maximum  personal  contribution. 
Social  companionships  become  too  fine  for  debit 
and  credit  accounts.  The  more  advantaged  and 
the  less  advantaged  in  life's  industry  seek  together 
to  convert  the  huge  machinery  into  a  human  min- 
istry. Buyer  and  seller  each  profit  in  the  same 
transaction:    there  is  no  caveat  emptor.     Superior 


The  Way  to  the  Unseen  321 

and  inferior  are  both  obedient  to  the  same  law. 
Teacher  and  taught  joyously  walk  the  same  path. 
It  is  fundamentally  an  experience  of  friendship, 
and  with  this  extraordinary  quality  that  one  is 
actually  willing  to  do  his  part,  even  though  the  other 
may  not  do  his.  Loving  men  whom  he  has  seen, 
he  does  not  demand  response,  so  much  for  so  much, 
he  just  trusts  that  love  must  beget  love,  that  many 
shall  be  worth  the  ransom  price  he  pays. 

Wherever  such  a  sense  of  ministry  is  manifest 
men  recognize  its  religious  quaHty.  There  is  some- 
thing akin  to  the  sacrifice  of  Jesus  when  the  man  of 
science  offers  himself  to  test  the  theory  of  the  origin 
of  some  awful  human  scourge  and  dares  to  take  the 
sting  of  the  insect  that  may  bear  the  plague.  He 
gives  his  life  a  ransom  for  many.  We  recognize 
the  same  spirit  when  a  group  of  cultured  men  and 
women  leave  the  regions  that  are  aloof  from  misery 
and  go  to  dwell  in  the  narrow  streets  where  unlovely 
poverty  degrades  the  human  spirit.  By  their  friend- 
ship they  give  their  lives  a  ransom  for  many. 
And  when  this  is  absent,  any  religious  profession  is 
a  mockery.  A  pompous  clergyman,  much  noted  for 
rhetorical  orthodoxy,  once  encountered  a  lady  in 
the  dimly  lighted  corridor  of  a  hotel  and  mistook 
her  for  a  chambermaid.  She  is  a  gracious  woman 
of  fine  culture,  whose  life  is  a  continuous  ministry. 
She  told  the  incident  with  great  indignation,  not, 
as  she  explained,  because  she  had  been  mistaken 
for  a  chambermaid,  but  that  any  man  should  speak 


322  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

to  a  chambermaid  as  rudely  as  the  clergyman  had 
spoken  to  her.  That  lady  does  not  despise  chamber- 
maids. She  knows  a  great  many  of  them,  and 
counts  them  friends.  It  is  part  of  her  religious 
experience  to  feel  a  respect  for  people.  And  by 
that  way  of  living  she  ransoms  many  lowly  folk 
from  loss  of  self-respect. 

Let  it  be  said  then  to  those  perplexed  about  the 
thought  of  God,  and  how  anyone  can  know  him, 
that  the  faith  and  feeling  and  effort  of  devotedness 
to  human  welfare,  which  bring  to  home  its  beauty 
and  happiness,  give  to  friendship  its  finest  quality, 
soften  the  asperities  of  our  competitive  struggle, 
ease  the  burdens  of  the  hea^^  laden,  inspire  all  our 
noble  charities,  make  nearly  all  the  brightness  in 
our  world,  blessing  him  that  gives  and  him  that 
takes — all  this,  so  far  as  it  is  a  great  human  opti- 
mism and  sacrificial  devotion,  is  part  of  the  religious 
experience. 

For  it  leads  to  the  supreme  religious  faith. 
Why  should  I,  with  my  instincts  of  self-interest, 
really  care  for  others'  need,  and  feel  this  glowing 
hope  for  others'  welfare,  and  even  be  willing  to  deny 
myself  that  others  may  be  blessed  ?  This  that  I  feel 
to  be  the  best  in  my  nature  is  not  self -initiated.  It 
is  not  my  discovery.  If  I  love,  it  is  because  others 
first  loved  me.  It  has  come  to  me.  And  I  am 
not  alone  in  it.  Here  are  many  more  like  myself, 
and  many,  many,  better,  nobler,  more  sacrificial. 
Whence  came  it  all?    Ever  and  anon  we  see  great 


The  Way  to  the  Unseen  323 

revelations  of  human  sympathy.  The  call  rings 
out  to  give  relief  to  the  people  of  a  stricken  city, 
and  the  whole  country  stretches  out  its  hands. 
Famine  threatens  a  population  half  around  the 
world  and  the  telegraph  flashes  our  help  bringing 
bread  to  the  hungry.  Voices  in  the  air  call  for  aid 
in  mid-ocean  and  every  vessel  within  reach  rushes 
to  give  succor,  while  heroes  risk  their  lives  for  the 
imperiled.  The  challenge  summons  us  to  right 
some  mighty  wrong;  we  respond,  and  are  surprised 
at  the  great  army  that  feels  as  we  do.  If  theology 
has  been  concerned  to  account  for  the  origin  of  the 
evil  that  is  in  us,  who  will  account  for  the  good? 
It  is  the  greater  mystery.  Whenever  we  are  able 
to  see  under  the  struggle  and  the  selfishness  of  life 
something  of  the  human  love  that  is  there — the 
charities,  the  sympathies,  the  brotherhood — ^we 
feel  ourselves  in  the  presence  of  the  power  that  is 
the  deepest  meaning  of  the  world.  Where  did 
goodness  come  from?  Whence  this  human  love? 
We  have  read  the  grim  story  of  the  struggle  for 
existence,  the  survival  of  the  fittest.  Yet  through 
the  long  evolution  we  find  emerging  love,  and  all 
the  goodness  that  is  here  in  men.  We  never  under- 
stand the  world — its  terrors,  its  pain,  its  disappoint- 
ments, its  awful  mystery.  Came  it  from  the  far 
primeval  forests,  came  it  through  the  direful  struggle 
of  "Nature  red  in  tooth  and  claw  with  raven"? 
Yet,  it  has  produced  love;  mother's,  father's, 
children's,  patriot's,  friend's,  brother's,  the  love  of 


324  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

men  whom  we  have  seen.  Then  it  is  a  good  world. 
And  it  is  worth  while  to  be  true  and  kind  if  the 
bottommost  fact  of  the  world  is  goodness.  These 
feelings  that  I  count  the  best  in  me,  that  are  akin 
to  what  is  best  in  others,  and  most  of  all  in  those 
whom  I  ever  most  esteem — this  goodness,  this  love, 
is  the  truest  fact  of  the  world.  Then  I  begin  to 
understand  the  meaning  of  the  universe.  If  I  may 
judge  the  process  by  its  best,  if  I  may  judge  the 
universe  by  the  noblest  of  its  products,  then  the 
universe  is  Love.  It  is  religious  experience,  indeed, 
when  we  come  to  that,  for  what  is  that  but  God? 
This  little  good  that  I  would  like  to  do  is  part  of 
the  great  good  that  has  been  coming  down  the 
ages,  and  is  going  on.  Such  must  be  the  meaning 
of  one  of  the  sublimes t  utterances  of  Jesus.  His 
own  passion  for  human  blessing  was  to  him  part  of 
the  Universal  Energy  of  Goodness:  "The  Father 
worketh  hitherto  and  I  work.''  So  with  humility 
the  mystics  have  dared  to  say,  Look  in  the  depths 
of  your  own  heart  and  you  will  find  God.  The 
dewdrop  mirrors  the  rainbow.  Loving  men  whom 
we  have  seen,  we  find  in  our  own  love  God  whom 
we  have  not  seen. 

Does  that  carry  us  too  far?  Should  we  have 
too  humanly  personal  a  God  ?  For  my  love  is  often 
pain.  Is  there  a  God  who  looks  on  human  sorrow, 
and  feels  and  suffers  with  men  ?  So  Jesus  believed. 
When  he  poured  out  his  heart  in  sympathy  he 
believed  it  was   God:    "What  things  soever  the 


The  Way  to  the  Unseen  325 

Father  doeth,  these  the  son  also  doeth  in  like 
manner/'  That  would  not  give  us  a  divine  Auto- 
crat, bestowing  benefits  out  of  his  opulence;  it 
would  give  us  a  Redeemer  God,  afflicted  in  all  our 
afflictions.  Perhaps  one  reason  why  men  do  not 
find  God  is  that  they  seek  him  outside  the  great 
world-process.  But  he  cannot  be  a  painless,  pas- 
sionless God,  who  has  finished  everything;  he  must 
be  the  process,  in  whom  we  live,  and  move,  and  have 
our  being. 

God  was  there  when  we  stood  beside  our  friend 
in  his  grief.  Human  skill  had  failed,  the  end  had 
come,  the  beloved  was  gone.  What  would  we  have 
done  for  our  friend — what  would  we  not  have  done  ? 
Was  that  silent,  helpless  sympathy  a  bitter  exhi- 
bition of  the  mockery  of  a  heartless  universe,  or 
was  that  silent,  helpful  sympathy  a  revelation  of 
the  heart  of  the  universe  ? 

Would  I  suffer  for  him  that  I  love  ?    So  wouldst  thou — so 

wilt  thou! 
So  shall  crown  thee  the    topmost,  ineffablest,  uttermost 

crown — 
And  thy  love  fill  infinitude  wholly,  nor  leave  up  nor  down 
One  spot  for  the  creature  to  stand  in ! 

And  that  is  why  Jesus  leads  us  to  God.  In  our 
own  poor  human  sympathy  we  realize  that  the 
universe  is  love.  But  Jesus,  unmarred  by  the 
selfishness  that  spoils  our  little  love,  not  limited  to 
the  brief  occasions  of  our  transitory  sympathy, 
Jesus,  who  went  about  doing  good,  who  bore  mc  ^ 


326  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

griefs,  and  carried  their  sicknesses,  who  believed 
in  men  and  women  when  they  did  not  beheve  in 
themselves,  who  came  to  seek  and  to  save  that 
which  was  lost,  who  would  leave  the  ninety  and 
nine  that  he  might  go  after  the  one  that  was  astray, 
who  would  forgive  unto  seventy  times  seven — 
Jesus  compels  us  to  believe  in  God.  Let  us  say 
to  ourselves  whenever  the  struggle  and  harshness 
of  the  world  obscure  our  faith  that  we  live  in  a  uni- 
verse that  produced  Jesus.  So  knowing  Jesus,  who 
loved  men  whom  he  had  seen,  we  discover  the 
Father  whom  we  have  not  seen.  It  is  the  human 
approach,  by  the  way  of  our  best  sympathy,  into 
fellowship  with  Christ,  and  so  to  that  knowledge  of 
God  which  is  religious  experience  indeed. 

But  is  not  all  this  external?  Have  we  not  left 
out  of  account  that  which  has  ever  been  central  in 
the  religious  consciousness,  a  sense  of  sin,  of  peni- 
tence, of  reconciliation  with  God?  Can  the  ap- 
proach to  religion  by  the  way  of  human  sympathy  and 
service  bring  about  the  cleansing  of  our  own  hearts 
and  the  forgiveness  of  our  sins?  If  it  be  genuine, 
it  not  only  can,  but  it  must.  No  one  can  seriously 
face  the  significance  of  human  life  as  a  ministry  to 
human  welfare  without  a  proper  feeling  of  insuffi- 
ciency. It  is  a  humbling  experience.  Before  we 
talk  complacently  of  doing  unto  others  as  we  would 
have  them  do  unto  us,  we  must  be  very  sure  that 
we  are  worthy  that  they  should  do  well  unto  us. 
If  we  are  to  advocate  a  Kingdom  of  righteousness 


The  Way  to  the  Unseen  327 

and  love,  where  each  man  is  his  best,  it  behooves 
us  to  be  sure  that  we  ourselves  may  belong  to  such 
a  Kingdom.  We  shall  not  dare  to  extend  the  hand 
of  helpfulness  that  is  not  first  cleansed  itself.  Every 
error,  every  folly,  every  wrong  that  any  one  of  us 
has  done  has  added  so  much  to  the  pain  of  the  world. 
We  cannot,  with  smug  complacency,  stand  aside 
and  criticize  the  world-process,  but  must  rather 
realize  our  responsibility  for  its  evil.  There  is  no 
sin  that  is  only  personal.  Every  sin  is  against 
humanity.  There  lies  the  dark  ledger  of  human 
life  with  all  its  fearful  debit  items.  Our  love  and 
goodness  are  on  the  other  side,  helping  to  make  the 
balance  right.  But  all  our  hate,  envy,  meanness, 
suspicion,  overreaching,  carelessness,  self-indulgence, 
and  every  darker  evil  have  added  to  the  great  sum 
total  of  human  misery.  Let  me  say  to  myself  that 
I  may  understand  the  bitter  truth.  What  time 
I  did  that  wrong,  was  untrue  to  my  best,  sinned  in 
deed,  or  word,  or  thought,  then  I  went  over  to  the 
forces  that  are  dragging  men  downward,  then  I  was 
enrolled  as  an  enemy  of  my  fellow-men,  then  I 
added  to  the  wretchedness  of  the  world,  then  I  laid 
another  burden  on  the  overladen  shoulders  of 
struggling  humanity,  then  I  delayed  the  coming  of 
the  day  of  righteousness,  then  I  added  my  testimony 
that  there  is  no  God:  I  went  with  Barabbas  and 
I  crucified  Christ.  Philanthropy  can  never  be  a 
substitute  for  virtue;  virtue  must  be  the  condition 
of  philanthropy. 


328  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

There  has  been  some  discussion  recently  as  to 
whether  the  private  Hfe  of  a  statesman  has  any- 
thing to  do  with  his  public  service.  It  is  an  idle 
discussion.  No  man  contributes  more  than  he  is. 
In  the  long  run  character  tells.  A  quarter  of  a 
century  ago  two  distinguished  men  in  English  public 
life  were  the  leaders  of  significant  democratic  reform 
movements.  Keen  parliamentary  debaters,  far- 
seeing  statesmen,  earnestly  devoted  to  the  good  of 
the  people,  they  seemed  to  have  the  future  in  their 
hands.  Each  in  a  moment  dropped  into  oblivion, 
and  the  reforms  he  championed  lost  their  place  and 
opportunity.  They  were  false  to  no  public  trust, 
they  failed  in  no  single  article  of  leadership,  there 
was  no  taint  upon  their  patriotism.  But  each  man 
was  untrue  in  his  personal  life  to  the  highest  obliga- 
tions of  manhood.  The  private  shame  destroyed  the 
public  service.     It  should  be  so,  it  must  be  so. 

Not  honesty  is  the  best  policy,  not  virtue  leads 
to  happiness,  not  purity  shall  save  our  souls,  but 
the  need  of  the  world  for  good  women  and  good 
men  to  make  it  just  and  do  its  kindly  ministries, 
this  high  obligation  shall  keep  us  true.  We  find 
it  once  again  in  the  words  of  Jesus,  "For  their  sakes 
I  sanctify  myself.'^  Why  must  Jesus  be  holy? 
For  their  sakes,  for  the  men  he  was  seeking  to  lead, 
for  the  cause  he  was  trying  to  further,  for  the  King- 
dom he  was  hoping  to  bring  in. 

This  brings  us  to  prayer.  We  enter  at  last  the 
Holy  of  Holies  of  religion.     We  seek  inner  cleansing 


The  Way  to  the  Unseen  329 

for  daily  effectiveness.  There  is  so  much  evil  in 
the  world;  let  me  not  add  to  it.  Pride,  envy, 
hatred,  selfishness  are  so  devastating;  let  me  not 
be  one  to  make  them  more.  The  world  needs  good 
men  so  sorely;  may  I  be  one  of  them.  That  is 
religious  experience  indeed,  contrition,  confession, 
resolution,  the  prayer  that  links  a  soul  with 
God. 

It  is  not,  then,  the  chronology  of  religious  expe- 
rience that  is  so  important,  but  its  quality.  If  a 
man  out  of  his  personal  need  finds  the  Redeemer, 
let  him  add  to  his  faith  virtue,  and  to  virtue  love. 
And  let  him  ever  remember  that  he  that  loveth  not 
his  brother  whom  he  hath  seen,  cannot  love  God 
whom  he  hath  not  seen.  But  if  one  has  not  found 
God  and  can  only  see  man,  let  him  so  look  into  the 
meaning  of  human  life  and  struggle  that  he  may 
really  love  man.  Let  him  pursue  that  love  unceas- 
ingly until  the  passion  of  Jesus  becomes  his,  and  the 
divineness  of  it  is  revealed  to  him  as  the  Eternal 
Goodness  that  is  working  in  him  all  unknown. 
Then  let  him  love  men  so  deeply  and  believe  in  that 
Eternal  Goodness  so  surely  that  he  will  cry  out  of 
his  own  moral  weakness  for  strength  to  be  worthy 
of  a  part  in  the  great  redemptive  process.  So  shall 
the  fulness  of  religious  experience  become  his,  even 
the  experience  of  Jesus  who  found  in  the  universe 
his  Father  and  in  humanity  his  brethren. 

So  may  we  come  through  man  to  God,  for  the 
love  of  man  is  the  way  to  the  Unseen. 


330  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

PRAYER 

Eternal  Father,  who  art  not  far  from  any  one  of 
us,  whose  word  is  very  nigh  us  in  our  mouth  and  in 
our  heart  that  we  may  do  it,  and  who  art  ever  seeking 
us  more  than  we  are  seeking  thee:  Open  thou  our 
eyes  that  we  may  see  thee.  May  every  human  virtue 
and  every  human  love  reveal  to  us  the  heart  of  God. 
By  the  tenderness  that  was  about  our  infancy,  by  the 
richness  of  the  fellowships  that  have  befriended  us,  by 
all  that  speaks  within  ourselves  of  goodness,  may  we 
believe  in  God  the  giver  of  every  good  and  of  every 
perfect  gift.  Forbid  that  the  darkness  of  the  world 
should  blind  our  eyes,  and  its  cold  selfishness  should 
chill  our  hearts.  Inspire  in  us  the  faith  that  love  is 
ever  stronger  than  hate,  that  goodness  is  greater  than 
evil,  that  the  Kingdom  of  righteousness  is  coming 
among  men.  Cleanse  our  own  hearts  from  every  evil 
and  uncharity.  Help  us  to  give  ourselves  in  gracious 
ministries.  Teach  us  that  everyone  that  loveth  is 
begotten  of  God,  and  so  in  the  service  of  our  brethren 
may  we  ever  find  our  Father.  Grant  us  then  the 
witness  of  thy  Spirit  with  our  spirits  that  we  are  the 
children  of  God.  In  the  name  of  him  who  loved  us 
and  gave  himself  for  us.    Amen. 


XVIII 

THE  FUNCTION  OF  DEATH  IN 
HUMAN  EXPERIENCE 

BY 

GEORGE  BURMAN  FOSTER 


THE  FUNCTION  OF  DEATH  IN  HUMAN 
EXPERIENCE 

The  last  enemy  that  shall  be  abolished  is  death  (I  Cor. 
15:26). 

For  the  modern  mind,  the  fear  of  demons  is  no 
more — gone  through  the  influence  of  both  science 
and  rehgion.  With  demons  gone,  darkness  has 
ceased  to  be  the  terror  that  it  once  was.  Then,  too, 
disasters  are  increasingly  averted,  partly  by  triumph 
over  darkness,  partly  by  technical  skill.  One  by  one, 
slowly  enough,  diseases  are  giving  way  before  the 
victorious  march  of  scientific  medicine.  Death  re- 
mains. Death  is  no  man's  friend,  cries  one;  an 
enemy,  the  '4ast  enemy,"  says  Paul.  Some  Uve 
all  their  lifetime  in  fear  of  death.  To  be  sure, 
there  are  those  who  sigh  for  death,  but  this  is 
because  they  are  dead  before  they  die — ^because  the 
values  summed  up  in  the  word  "life''  have  become 
so  valueless  to  them  that  death  seems  the  better 
portion. 

But  death  is  to  be  aboHshed — this  is  an  old 
religious  faith  and,  it  would  seem,  a  new  scientific 
conviction.  As  to  the  latter,  Bergson  pictures  the 
whole  of  humanity  as  one  immense  army  galloping 
beside  and  before  and  behind  each  of  us  in  an 
overwhelming  charge  able  to  beat  down  every  re- 
sistance and  to  clear  the  most  formidable  obstacles, 

333 


334  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

perhaps  even  death.  Thus,  men  are  to  triumph  over 
death  by  not  dying!  Others,  like  Metchnikoff, 
allow  that  it  is  forever  "appointed  unto  men 
once  to  die,''  but  hope,  by  abolishing  diseases,  by 
learning  how  to  live  right,  and  by  thus  lengthening 
out  the  human  span  to  two  or  three  times  its  present 
possible  length,  to  overcome  the  fear  of  death  and  to 
cultivate  contentment,  if  not  actual  joy,  in  our 
mortality.  It  is  the  death  that  springs  upon  us  like 
a  wild  beast,  and  does  not  rest  until  it  has  torn  us  to 
pieces,  or  the  death  that  does  its  dreadful  work  in- 
sidiously and  secretly  until  one's  power  of  resistance 
breaks  down,  or  the  death  that  nips  the  human  bud 
before  it  unfolds,  withers  bloom  before  it  brings  forth 
fruit,  plucks  fruit  before  it  can  ripen — it  is  this 
death  that  would  seem  to  be  indeed  no  man's  friend. 
But  if  men  were  to  die  full  of  years  and  aweary  of 
life,  if  life  went  out  only  as  a  candle  does,  burnt 
down  to  its  socket,  if  life's  full  wish  had  been  ful- 
filled, if  one  did  not  die  until  one  wanted  to,  then 
one  could  comprehend  the  event,  for  then  it  would 
be  man  closing  his  earthly  existence  at  the  end  of 
his  long  day's  work. 

Or  we  might  grant  that  death  is  in  itself  no  man's 
friend  and  yet  comfort  ourselves  with  the  reflection 
that  it  makes  virtues  and  values  possible  which  more 
than  compensate  for  the  evil.  Should  we  have 
religion  and  philosophy  if  there  were  no  death? 
Should  we  have  a  sense  of  the  seriousness  and  urgency 
of  life  if  there  were  no  death  ?    Should  we  have  an 


Function  of  Death  in  Human  Experience    335 

effective  admonition  to  give  life  its  highest  worth, 
to  improve  the  time,  to  fill  the  world  with  good  deeds, 
if  there  were  no  death  ?  But  I  must  return  to  this 
later. 

There  are  others  of  our  human  brothers  who 
look  upon  death  as  an  unmitigated  evil.  All  our 
consolations  and  explanations  are  inadequate,  they 
urge,  and  we  must  be  satisfied  with  everlasting  dis- 
satisfaction as  we  confront  the  bitter  fact  of  our  mor- 
taHty.  Stoical  resignation — sagacious  indulgence: 
this  is  our  alternative,  in  view  of  the  shortness  of 
life,  the  cruelty  of  the  world,  the  irrevocableness 
of  destiny.  Their  counsel  is:  Do  not  think  about 
death,  do  not  allow  the  thought  to  obtrude,  and 
if  it  does,  banish  it  as  soon  as  you  can. 

There  is  of  course  a  grain  of  truth  in  this  counsel. 
The  strong  and  wise  man  who  strives,  fights,  creates, 
does  not  hrood  over  death,  but  firmly  and  unflinch- 
ingly fixes  his  eyes  upon  the  requirements  of  the 
hour  and  the  tasks  of  the  future,  unmindful  of  the 
common  human  lot  which  will  come  to  him,  too,  by 
and  by.  But  this  is  neither  resignation  nor  in- 
dulgence. Nor  is  it  the  ostrich-like  make-believe  in 
our  attitude  to  death.  Death  cannot  be  abolished 
by  forgetting.  To  triumph  over  death,  not  by 
preoccupation  and  oblivion  thereto,  but  by  remem- 
bering, that  would  be  triumph  indeed!  Our  fathers 
were  wont  to  think  much  upon  death,  to  read  often 
what  their  Bibles  said  upon  the  subject,  to  preach 
and  to  sing  about  death.     They  may  have  gone  to 


336  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

an  extreme,  but,  for  all  that,  in  the  face  of  the 
apparent  finahty  of  death,  the  phoenix  of  their 
hope  arose  ever  anew  out  of  the  ashes  of  their 
despair.  I  am  sure  that  we  have  gone  to  the  other 
extreme,  and  because  we  have  we  are  not  masters 
of  death  as  they  were.  We  are  its  slaves.  We  are 
not  free.  And  our  religious  life  is  suffering  because 
of  our  way  of  trying  to  triumph  over  death  by 
shirking  the  thought  of  it. 

And  so,  in  the  midst  of  our  modern  bewilderment 
and  distress,  our  dread  and  cowardice,  I  am  not 
without  hope  that  you  may  care  to  think  with  me  a 
little  while  upon  this  subject.  For  no  one  under- 
stands life  who  does  not  also  understand  death.  At 
all  events,  death  is  one  of  the  most  important 
factors,  if  not  the  most  important,  of  our  existence, 
precisely  as  important  as  birth  itseK.  It  is  a  fact 
of  boundless  range,  a  reaHty  that  surrounds  us 
every  moment,  that  speaks  to  us  in  every  throb  of  the 
heart.  But  it  is  with  death  as  it  is  with  all  the 
great  simple  basic  facts  of  our  outer  and  inner  life — 
as  it  is  with  air  and  light  and  the  stream  of  time 
and  the  beating  of  the  heart — ^we  do  not  sense 
them,  just  because  they  are  so  mighty,  so  con- 
stant, so  obvious.  And  yet  there  is  something 
overmastering  and  mysterious  in  the  way  our  whole 
manifold  and  passionate  life  rests  upon  the  dark 
waters  of  death  into  which  it  must  soon  sink  again. 
The  fact  is  so  great  that,  as  I  say,  we  who  want 
to  understand  the  mystery  of  life  should  now  and 


Function  of  Death  in  Human  Experience    337 

then  dedicate  an  hour  of  our  church  service  to 
death. 

Death  casts  its  dark  shadow  upon  all  of  us, 
obscures  and  jeopardizes  our  happiness.  We  mean 
by  happiness  the  will  to  live.  It  would  seem,  then, 
that  death  was  the  peculiar  foe  of  happiness.  This 
will  to  live  is  so  deeply  rooted  in  all  of  us  that  life 
itself  is  frequently  viewed  as  happiness — any  kind  of 
life  being  preferred  to  death,  the  one  great  unhappi- 
ness.  But  we  can  never  be  happy,  if  we  have  not 
conquered  "the  last  enemy  which  is  death."  The 
question  of  our  happiness  is  largely  a  question  as 
to  how  we  can  gain  the  victory  over  death,  how  we 
can  make  the  master  our  servant,  the  foe  our  friend. 
From  the  beginning — according  to  the  old  Book  of 
Genesis — man  was  set  to  have  dominion  over  the 
earth;  and  death  is  one  of  earth's  things  over  which 
he  is  to  have  dominion.     But  how  ? 

Time  was  when  death  was  looked  upon  as  a 
punishment  for  sin.  One  man  sinned  and  death 
entered  the  world  by  sin.  Such  a  view  must  in- 
finitely intensify  the  fear  of  death.  That  life  is  a 
punishment  of  life  one  may  well  believe.  But  to 
hold  death  as  punishment,  that  no  man  should  do 
upon  the  basis  of  reason,  but  only  upon  the  basis 
of  absolute  and  immediate  revelation. 

Again,  death  has  been  pictured  as  a  great  door 
through  which  men  passed  from  the  partial  and 
divided  happiness  of  earth  into  the  fuU  and  unclouded 
joy  of  eternal  bliss.     There  was  a  time  when  this 


338  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

was  a  real  and  positive  conviction.  Such  believers 
there  are  still — men  and  women  who  say:  I  desire 
to  depart  and  be  with  Christ;  for  me  to  live  is  Christ, 
to  die  is  gain.  And  it  may  be  that  many  of  us  envy 
these  good  people  the  happiness  of  this  naive  faith. 
That  is  not  the  question  now.  And  it  is  not  so 
much  the  fact  as  the  form  of  this  fact  which  gives 
us  pause.  But  the  main  point  is  that  a  life  which 
constantly  looks  beyond  the  grave  for  a  happiness  in 
which  there  shall  be  no  grave,  and  no  death,  is  self- 
destructive,  blinds  the  eyes  to  what  lies  on  this  side 
of  the  grave,  falsifies  life's  values  and  life's  happi- 
ness which  are  here  and  now.  To  seek  a  happiness 
which  no  eye  has  seen  and  no  ear  heard,  that  in 
the  end  is  to  sacrifice  the  most  certain  to  the  most 
uncertain.  What  is  worse,  it  is  to  subject  one's 
self  to  that  class  of  ecclesiastics  whose  business  it  is 
to  claim  and  carry  the  keys  to  this  transcendent  and 
inconceivable  bliss,  and  who  hold  out  the  prospect  of 
entrance  into  this  bliss  to  those  only  who  sell  their 
happiness  and  life  here  for  the  bhss  there.  Thus,  not 
indeed  death  itself,  but  the  idea  of  the  cause  and 
effect  of  death  became  a  fearful  weapon  for  the 
exploitation  and  subjugation  of  man.  The  belief 
that  death  itself  would  bring  eternal  life  created 
an  anxiety  and  fear  about  life  which  constantly 
endangered  the  outlook  for  eternal  happiness;  and 
the  servility  of  such  fear  ultimately  deceived  the 
soul  that  was  hungering  for  happiness  as  to  what  that 
happiness  really  was. 


Function  of  Death  in  Human  Experience    339 

In  our  day  we  must  cease  to  think  of  death  as 
punishment  of  sin  or  as  a  door  out  of  Hfe.  We  gain 
no  light  upon  the  dark  problem  until  we  realize  that 
death  signifies  a  necessary  order  of  life  itself.  Death 
is  a  natural  necessity.  Death  could  say:  "I,  whom 
you  reproach  as  the  destroyer  of  life,  I  am  really 
life's  great  friend.  Without  me,  life  would  not  be 
living;  I  am  life's  depth,  its  beauty  and  zest,  and 
passion."  Death  is  life's  friend — what  can  that 
mean?  Is  it  not  the  dearest  dream  of  the  human 
heart  that  death  shall  be  no  more  ?  Is  not  this  why 
in  our  day  men  hang  with  bated  breath  upon 
Bergson's  and  Metchnikoff's  words  which  I  recalled 
at  the  outset  ?  Do  we  not  wish  to  sit  at  the  meal  of 
existence  until  we  are  full  to  satiety  ?  Should  we  not 
like  to  drive  the  old  man  with  the  scythe  out  of  life's 
garden  ? 

0  my  friends,  I  fear  that  all  the  trees  and  flowers 
of  that  garden  would  then  wither  and  waste  away. 
In  nature's  everlasting  alternation  of  origination  and 
decay,  death  is  the  great  rejuvenator.  Life  is  move- 
ment and  mutation.  Everything  new  that  comes  to 
be  life  buries  an  old,  and  if  the  old  were  no  longer 
buried,  no  longer  would  the  new  be  born.  A  life 
without  death,  a  life  in  which  death  signified  only 
a  contingency,  would  be  life  without  growth,  at 
bottom  would  be  no  life  at  all,  but  would  itself  be 
death.  What  would  an  everlasting  spring  be? 
What  a  day  without  a  night  ?  Bounds  belong  to  all 
that  is  earthly,  else  it  loses  its  power.     Death  sets 


340  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

2l  goal  to  life — it  articulates  our  life  in  the  limits  of 
space  and  time.  In  this  way,  it  makes  life  some- 
thing definite,  measurable,  tangible,  just  our  human 
Kfe,  which  would  have  no  true  human  content  with- 
out the  succession  of  yesterday,  today,  and  tomor- 
row. It  is  at  the  graves  over  which  we  march  that 
we  first  note  that  we  live  at  all;  it  is  over  against 
what  has  been,  what  lies  behind  us,  that  we  feel  our- 
selves to  be  living  and  present,  that  we  feel  within 
our  being  the  pulsing  heart-beat  of  the  world.  It 
is  the  fact  that  our  days  have  their  end  and  goal 
that  binds  and  holds  all  their  moments  together,  that 
brings  one  into  the  other,  so  that  each  moment 
becomes  a  human  moment,  with  all  the  height  and 
depth  that  each  of  them  hides  away  within  its  own 
wondrous  being.  The  shortness  of  time  is  the 
eternal  admonition  to  redeem  the  time,  to  improve 
the  opportunity.  The  seriousness  of  death  is  the 
consecration  of  life,  the  strength  of  love,  the  spur 
to  action.  Every  joy  gets  its  glow  from  the  feeling 
that  it  comes  to  us  but  once.  This  once-ness  is  the 
secret  melancholy  at  the  heart  of  every  pleasure, 
which  yet  heightens  the  pleasure.  Why  is  each 
hour  so  important?  Because  it  comes  only  once 
and  never  again.  Why  is  each  task  so  full  of 
meaning?  Because  it  requires  decisions  which 
can  never  be  repeated.  Why  is  life  so  real  and 
earnest  ?  Because  we  must  hasten!  Thus  it  is  the 
background  of  death  that  gives  Hfe  its  depth,  its 
urgency,  its  seriousness.     So  there  breaks  out  of 


Function  of  Death  in  Human  Experience    341 

time  the  fire  of  eternity  which  consumes  time. 
Transitoriness  is  the  form  in  which  eternity  reveals 
itself  to  us.  Death  necessarily  belongs  to  life.  To 
see  this,  not  to  devote  one's  thinking  and  willing  and 
feeling  to  the  vain  effort  of  forgetting  or  eliminating 
death,  is  to  win  the  victory  over  death. 

Said  Death  to  Life, 

''All  things  are  mine"; 
Said  Life  to  Death, 

"And  thou  art  thine." 

When  we  see  that  death  is  our  friend  we  have 
won  the  victory.  Night  is  our  friend.  Is  it  not  good 
that  there  is  not  simply  a  hot,  clear  day,  but  also  a 
still,  mysterious  night  with  the  eternal  stars  shining 
in  the  beauty  of  the  blue  above  ?  We  could  not  en- 
dure the  day  without  the  night.  And  we  could 
not  endure  life  without  death.  Often  life  makes  us 
so  weary.  Sometimes  a  longing  for  death  steals 
over  young  hearts,  both  in  the  midst  of  pleasure  and 
in  the  pain  of  youthful  seeking  and  seething.  To  be 
sure,  much  of  this  is  fleeting  sentiment,  shadows  of 
clouds  in  a  sunny  day.  But  this  play  of  sentiment 
ceases  when  life's  little  day  has  worn  on  apace. 
It  does  not  fit  into  the  earnestness  of  life.  Deeper 
feelings  take  its  place  in  the  soul.  Youth  ever 
hopes  that  things  will  come  out  right  in  the  end,  but 
age  sees  the  insufficiency  of  life.  We  know  that 
certain  shipwrecks  which  we  have  suffered  cannot 
simply  be  forgotten  and  erased  from  our  life.  We 
have  had  too  much  experience  with  ourselves  to 


342  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

hope  with  so  much  confidence  that  there  shall  yet 
be  as  bright  and  big  a  day  as  we  once  dreamed. 
Disillusions,  errors,  reproaches,  darknesses,  accumu- 
late in  our  lives.  We  wander  among  broken  idols. 
So  much  that  is  already  dead  gathers  up  in  a  human 
existence!  Dead  loves,  dead  friendships,  outlived 
errors,  aye,  outlived  ideals  also,  poisoned  relation- 
ships, wilted  flowers,  gravestones — in  short,  so  much 
death!  And  there  is  only  one  redemption  from  all 
this  death,  and  that  is  death  itself.  What  a  rest 
and  refreshment  for  the  weary  and  wounded  heart! 
Often  life  seems  so  confined  and  moldy,  like  a  dark 
and  stuffy  room,  where  we  lie  dreaming  feverish 
dreams — then  the  thought  of  death  is  like  a  window 
out  of  which  we  may  fly  to  cool  the  brow,  and  to  see 
the  peaceful  stars  in  the  great,  quiet,  pure,  sacred 
night!  How  good  it  is  that  there  is  a  night  for  our 
life,  and  not  simply  a  long  endless  day!  Day  comes 
with  its  thousand  pettinesses,  humiliates  us,  robs  us 
of  happiness  and  peace.  Very  well,  let  us  be  com- 
forted; the  night  comes,  holy  night!  What  does  it 
amount  to  that  people  say  this  or  that  about  us? 
Why  fret  over  the  few  broken  and  blasted  joys 
when  we  must  die  tomorrow  ?  Let  us  wander  out  of 
life's  clang  and  clatter  into  the  still  and  sacred  night, 
mount  aloft,  greet  the  stars,  be  quiet  and  glad, 
cooled  and  pacified  by  the  air  of  eternity.  Ever 
and  anon  in  the  stress  and  storm  of  life,  let  us  think 
of  death,  and  this  thought  will  be  a  marvelous  cure 
for  our  whole  being. 


Function  of  Death  in  Human  Experience    343 

But  death  is  not  simply  life's  friend  and  bene- 
factor, it  is  also  life's  interpreter.  It  tells  us  better 
than  any  science  or  philosophy  can  what  life  really 
is  and  ought  to  be.  Have  you  ever  been  at  death's 
door  ?  Then  did  you  not  at  such  a  time  pass  through 
the  deepest  experiences  of  your  life  ?  Was  not  the 
truth  of  life  clearer  to  you  than  ever  before  ?  Did 
you  not  see,  as  in  the  Hght  of  the  Judgment  Day, 
what  was  true  and  what  was  false  in  your  life? 
Did  you  not  discern  the  meaning  of  life,  and  the 
perversity  with  which  fools  evaluate  things,  over- 
look the  true  values  and  run  after  false  ones  ?  Did 
you  not  feel  how  stupid  and  inert  our  existence 
ordinarily  is,  how  far  from  truth  and  reality,  and 
did  you  not  resolve  never  to  forget  what  you  saw 
in  that  clear  hour  of  death's  revelations  ? 

But  if  we  have  not  faced  death  ourselves,  we 
have  stood  by  the  deathbed  of  loved  ones.  It  was 
an  instructive  hour  beyond  compare.  God  spoke 
so  powerfully  to  us  that  our  souls  bowed  to  the 
earth  before  the  weight  of  his  words.  The  truth  of 
life  was  revealed.  The  world  faded  from  us.  Life's 
big  woes,  life's  bitter  struggles,  how  they  shriveled 
into  insignificance  there!  How  could  we  grade  the 
things  of  Hfe  according  to  their  worth,  were  it  not 
for  death  ?  Death  is  a  hot  fire  which  bums  up  the 
hay  and  stubble  of  vanity,  and  leaves  the  genuine 
gold  of  life  purified.  ^'In  the  hour  and  article  of 
death" — to  use  a  phrase  of  our  fathers — what  seems 
important  to  us  ?    The  honors  we  longed  for,  the 


344  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

victories  we  achieved  by  having  our  own  way  and 
will,  the  satisfying  of  our  thirst  for  revenge,  the 
hours  of  pleasure,  the  triumph  of  our  pride,  the  ex- 
action of  our  rights  ?  How  these  things  seem  petty 
and  unworthy  now!  How  gladly  we  would  cast 
them  aside  and  put  other  things  in  their  places  which 
seem  to  us  at  present  of  much  less  value!  In  the 
solemn  hour  of  death  how  great  the  plain  fulfilment 
of  the  duties  of  love  and  faithfulness  seems!  Oh, 
how  we  curse  our  selfishness,  which  blinds  and 
hardens  us  so  that  we  cannot  see  the  truth  of  life! 
Of  all  the  genuine  laws  of  life,  love  is  the  supreme  and 
aU-controlling  one.  Death,  the  greatest  fact  of  life, 
is  the  strongest  witness  to  the  truth  of  the  gospel.  It 
is  death  that  lets  us  see  and  be  sure  of  a  higher  order 
of  things,  of  love  and  loyalty,  of  truth  and  goodness. 
At  death  no  one  doubts  that  this  higher  order  is 
the  true  order.  Therefore  death  is  something  great. 
Therefore  death  makes  man  great.  We  now  know 
how  to  prepare  for  death.  We  now  know  how  we 
can  stand  before  death  unafraid.  What  of  our- 
selves do  we  leave  behind  us  for  other  men,  when 
we  must  go  hence?  Is  that  which  we  have  given 
to  men,  is  that  which  we  shall  leave  to  men,  worth 
our  living  for?  Are  men  stronger,  truer,  freer, 
because  we  have  lived  ?  Is  there  a  human  soul  in 
the  world  to  whom  we  have  been  a  necessity  ?  Is 
there  someone  who  has  found  in  us  a  revelation  of 
God,  who  has  had  a  vision  of  the  life  of  God,  of  the 
love  of  God,  in  and  through  us?    If  so,  we  have 


Function  of  Death  in  Human  Experience    345 

known  happiness  upon  the  earth,  we  have  fulfilled 
our  calling  in  life,  and  death  cannot  bear  witness 
against  us. 

And  the  after-life  ?  Inasmuch  as  while  we  know 
that  there  is  a  connection  between  mind  and  brain, 
we  do  not  know  that  this  connection  is  a  necessary 
connection,  science  leaves  room  for  faith,  science 
cannot  say  that  the  death  of  the  brain  involves 
of  necessity  the  death  of  the  mind.  There  is  room 
for  hope.  Not  vetoed  by  science,  love  belie veth  all 
things,  hopeth  all  things,  and  love  never  faileth.  I 
do  not  mean  to  say,  even  if  science  made  faith  and 
hope  and  love  seem  absurd,  that  they  would  not 
outweary  the  absurdity  and  the  contradiction  and 
urge  their  requirements.  I  believe  that  they  would. 
At  all  events,  I  do  not  mean  to  close  my  sermon 
without  a  word  about  the  life  after  death. 

In  the  moment  when  we  become  dust,  we  realize 
most  powerfully  that  there  is  something  in  us  that 
is  more  than  dust.  More  than  dust!  For,  O  my 
friends,  precisely  the  greatness  that  flames  forth 
in  death  points  beyond  death.  I  have  been  saying 
that  we  know  so  much  of  death — it  serves  life, 
illumines  life,  augments  life.  Thus  it  is  not  death, 
but  life,  that  has  the  last  word  in  God's  world. 
Death  is  not  the  last;  it  is  only  a  form  of  the  develop- 
ment of  life,  not  the  annihilation  of  life.  This  is  the 
presupposition  upon  which  everything  depends. 

I  have  been  saying  that  death  is  friend  and 
benefactor.     But  I  must  not   forget.     I  must  not 


34^  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

beguile  or  befool  myself.  I  think  of  the  battlefields 
of  the  bloody  world.  I  think  of  the  children  that 
scarcely  bloom  before  they  wither.  I  think  of  the 
men  whom  death  breaks  in  the  years  of  their  best 
strength,  unmindful  of  whether  they  are  so  bitterly 
necessary  to  their  own  or  to  the  world.  I  think  of 
all  that  is  incomprehensible,  cruel,  and  ghastly  in 
death.  I  see  that,  after  all,  there  is  a  feeling  in 
all  of  us  that  death  is  something  unnatural,  some- 
thing which  does  not  fit  into  God's  world.  This 
feeling  is  mirrored  in  the  story  of  Paradise.  Painters 
have  ever  tried  to  limn  the  nameless  horror  of  the 
first  parents  who  saw  their  son  dead  and  did  not 
know  what  death  was.  The  savage  has  this  feeling 
still.  The  horror  of  death  tells  us  in  thunderous 
tones  that  there  is  something  enigmatic,  terrible, 
unnatural  in  it.  Again  we  wander  out  into  the 
night,  not  now  into  the  starry  night,  but  into  an  un- 
friendly and  unfamiliar  darkness  which  suffocates 
us.     O  death,  how  bitter  thou  art! 

But  in  the  darkness  of  death  there  have  ever 
been  men  who  could  not  believe  in  death.  I  say 
"believe,"  for  death,  like  life,  is  a  thing  of  faith 
and  not  of  science.  These  men  have  sought  for  life, 
and  seers  speak  of  a  light  which  falls  from  beyond 
the  grave  over  on  this  side  to  us.  Greek  philoso- 
phers, with  elevation  of  soul,  preach  their  faith  in  an 
immortal  substance  of  us,  Godlike  and  ineffable, 
and  try  to  picture  to  us  a  life  beyond,  full  of  beauty 
and  depth.     Never  have  intimations  been  wanting 


Function  of  Death  in  Human  Experience    347 

that  death  is  not  the  end.  By  and  by  the  victorious 
shout  rings  forth:  Our  Savior  Christ  Jesus  has 
abolished  death  and  brought  Hfe  and  incorruption 
to  light  through  the  gospel!  Jesus  embodies  an 
order  of  life  higher  than  the  natural.  In  him  there 
is  a  world-transcending  life.  In  the  gospel  of  Jesus, 
in  the  Kingdom  of  God,  there  is  the  apocalypse  of  a 
world  other  and  higher  than  our  world  of  shadows 
and  of  dust!  To  this  transcendent  world  death  does 
not  belong.  It  is  the  world  of  the  Father,  of  the 
Eternal,  of  the  God  of  the  living  and  not  of  the 
dead.  Death  is  swallowed  up  in  victory.  All 
this  is  not  a  matter  of  demonstration,  but  of  faith. 
But  we  live  by  faith,  not  by  demonstration.  The 
living  God — that  alone  is  the  key  to  the  riddle.  The 
living  God,  the  Father  who  has  revealed  himself 
in  power.  Thus  the  point  is  reached  where  victory 
over  death  is  consummated.  God  or  death — that  is 
the  alternative,  the  greatest  of  all  the  great  oppo- 
sites  that  pervade  the  world.  If  we  had  no  God  I  do 
not  know  how  we  would  escape  the  dominion  of 
death.  Our  relation  to  God  the  Father  is  the 
indestructible  bond  which  exalts  us  above  death. 
Death  is  for  man,  not  man  for  death. 

PRAYER 

0  God:  From  everlasting  to  everlasting  thou  art 
God.  Thy  years  fail  not.  Thine  eternity  underlies 
our  time,  giving  consistency  and  meaning  to  our  lives — 
otherwise  we  indeed  spend  our  days  as  a  tale  that  is 


34^  University  of  Chicago  Sermons 

told.  We  think  of  life's  little  day,  and  as  we  think  we 
pray  that  we  may  apply  our  hearts  unto  wisdom. 
While  it  is  still  day,  help  us  to  work,  and  to  serve  the 
Eternal  Goodness.  We  think  of  death,  and  rejoice 
that  the  death  of  our  Lord  has  made  him  the  lord  of 
death.  Be  thou  with  us  in  the  Valley  of  the  Shadow, 
that  we  may  fear  no  evil.  And  at  eventime  may  there 
he  light — and  may  there  he  the  bridge  of  sunset  into  the 
eternal  day. 

But,  O  God,  friend  after  friend  departs.  Who  has 
not  lost  a  friend  ?  We  grieve  for  the  touch  of  a  van- 
ished hand  and  for  the  sound  of  a  voice  that  is  still. 
Do  thou  comfort  and  sustain  us  with  thy  presence  and 
thy  love.  As  we  cherish  in  our  hearts  the  image  of  those 
we  have  loved  long  since  and  lost  awhile,  so  we  trust 
that  thou  dost  in  thy  great  Father-Heart.  We  trust  that 
thy  Living  Love  cannot  let  those  that  are  loved  cease  to  he. 
If  it  he  thy  will,  may  we  meet  again  in  thy  presence 
where  we  shall  he  satisfied  hoth  with  heing  in  thy 
likeness  and  with  the  communion  of  souls  throughout 
eternity.     We  ask,  O  God,  in  thy  name!    Amen. 


K^ 


